About 2,500 kg of narcotics worth about Rs 15,000 crore has been seized off India’s western coast and a suspected Pakistani national apprehended, the NCB said on Saturday, calling it the largest seizure of methamphetamine in the country.

The record seizure was made by the federal anti-narcotics agency in a joint operation with the Navy, it said.

The drug cache had started on a “mother ship” — a large vessel that distributes narcotics to various boats during its journey — from the Makran coast around Pakistan and Iran, it said.

As many as 134 sacks of suspected methamphetamine, a Pakistani national, the intercepted boat and some other items salvaged from the ship were brought to Mattancherry Wharf in Kochi in Kerala and handed over by the Navy to the Narcotics Control Bureau, it said.

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“NCB has initiated the seizure procedures and the primary analysis is that all of the packets contain methamphetamine of high purity.

“As the seizure procedures are still underway, the exact quantity of methamphetamine recovered is not clear yet. However, from the number of packets recovered, we estimate it to be around 2,500 kg,” the NCB said.

Shri. Sanjay Kumar Singh, Deputy Director General (Operations), Narcotics Control Bureau briefing the media in Kochi about the largest seizure of narcotic drugs in India in terms of its monetary value#PIBKochi @narcoticsbureau pic.twitter.com/g1DeiTIk57

— PIB in KERALA (@PIBTvpm) May 13, 2023