Cocaine worth over Rs 200 crore seized from ship in Paradip Port

The seized contraband was sent for testing and the results revealed that the “powder-like” substance was indeed cocaine.

By Subrat Sarangi

Paradip, Dec. 1: The Odisha police, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and custom officials on Thursday night seized 22 packets of cocaine worth a market value of Rs 200 crore from a cargo ship anchored at Paradip Port, nearly 120 km from here.

According to customs officer Madhab Chandra Mishra, the cocaine packets were recovered from the ship MV Debi on Thursday night.

“We had concrete intelligence inputs about cocaine being carried in the ship. During raids, we found it was hid under a magnate plate,” said customs officer Mishra.

The seized contraband, weighing about 20 kilograms, was sent for testing to state forensic laboratory in Bhubaneswar. Later, the test results revealed that the “powder-like” substance in the form of cakes was indeed cocaine. It is suspected that the illegal narcotic drug was being smuggled by the ship.

As per reports, the ship arrived at Paradip from Indonesia’s Gresik port and was scheduled to depart for Denmark carrying steel plates from Odisha.

However, a crane operator first noticed some suspicious packets in the ship and informed the authorities who came with a dog squad and seized the packets.

At first, the packets looked like an explosive device. But after the officials scanned the packets, it was revealed that it was drugs concealed in small rectangular packets.

There was no official statement from the Paradip Port authorities and the Odisha government on the huge haul of the contraband.