Gujarat struggles to block narcotics inflow through porous coastline

Having the country's longest coastline, 138 uninhabited islands, and proximity to Afghanistan, have spelt trouble for Gujarat. The state has a highly porous border, making it a drug trafficking hub.

The Gujarat government is fighting it on mission mode. In February this year, it invited central agencies to operate in the state along with the Gujarat police, Out of this was born the Narcotics Control Bureau's Operation Sagar Manthan, constituting NCB officers, commandos and intelligence wing officers of the Navy, the Indian Coast Guard, and the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

On November 15, the Gujarat (ATS), the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), and the Navy, in a joint operation titled Sagar Manthan 4, seized more than 700 kg of methamphetamine (meth) and arrested eight Iranian nationals from Gujarat’s Porbandar district. The drug bust was part of the multi-agency joint operation targeted to curb drug inflow through Gujarat's 1,607-km coastline, the longest among all Indian states.

Operation Sagar Manthan

In February, the team carried out its first operation — Sagar Manthan-1 — resulting in a 3132-kg drug haul including three different types of narcotics. Five Pakistani crew members aboard a vessel were arrested.

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“Since the beginning of the joint operations this year, about 3,300 kg of contraband, including 3110 kg of charas or hashish, 158.3 kg of crystal meth, and 24.6 kg of heroin has been recovered. Most of them are either from Afghanistan or bear the stamp of ‘Ras Awad Goods Co., produce of Pakistan’,” Sunil Joshi, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Gujarat ATS, told The Federal.

Gujarat’s 1,607-km coastline stretches from the south to its western part and is divided into three geographical sections. The Gulf of Kutch in Kutch district in the west and the Saurashtra coastline covering seven districts (Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Dwarka, Gir Somnath, Junagadh, Amreli) share maritime borders with Pakistan and Iran. Along the southern part of the state is the Gulf of Khambhat region.

The entry of drugs through the vast coastline has always been a problem for the Gujarat government. Gujarat police data reveal that until 2020-21, drugs used to come in through the coastal areas of Kutch only.

But since 2022, drugs have been seized from multiple districts along the coastline from Umarwada in the south to Porbandar in the west, increasing the inflow of drugs via the maritime border of Gujarat.

“Since the Taliban came to power in August 2021, Gujarat has seen an increase in the inflow of drugs. In August 2021, two mid-sea operations were carried out by the ATS off the Mundra coast, Kutch, where 35 kg and 77 kg of heroin were seized, followed by the seizure of 146 kg of heroin from the coastal villages of Saurashtra. In all the cases, the drug was of Afghanistan origin,” said Vikas Shahay, Director General of Police (DGP), Gujarat.

Golden Crescent Route

Over the past five years, 93,691 kg of drugs, including 2,229 litres of liquid drugs and 73,163 kg of pills and powder, have been confiscated along the coastal districts of the state. Of those, drugs worth Rs 8,000 were seized in 2023 alone. In June 2024, the BSF found around 10-20 kg of drug packets in the Sir Creek area of Kutch almost daily.

“In all these cases from Gujarat, the drugs are smuggled from Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan – the western Asian countries forming the Golden Crescent Route that is the source of over 80 per cent of the world’s smuggled heroin. Gujarat’s geographical proximity to West Asia and a long coastline has made it a major transshipment route for drugs flowing into India,” an NCB officer told The Federal.

“For instance, the drugs seized on Friday (November 15) were intercepted off the Porbandar coast, which is only 267 nautical miles/nm (around 447 km) from Pakistan’s Karachi port and takes only about four hours to travel. Kutch, the most notorious coast, is around 550-650 nm from the coasts of Iran and gives easy access to Afghanistan,” added the NCB official who was part of the team that carried out the operation.

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Islands around Gujarat

There are 144 islands along the coastline of Gujarat, of which only six are inhabited. The 144 islands are manned by 22 marine police stations spread across 1607 km from west to south Gujarat.

The Gujarat Marine Police was formed in 2006 for peacetime patrol of the state’s 1,607-km coastline, including the coastal area and inshore sea, due to its proximity to the Pakistan border, as well as the presence of important structures such as a petroleum refinery.

However, the elite force, which is jointly funded by the state and the Centre, and is considered to be the first line of defence along Gujarat’s coastline, hardly has any infrastructure.

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Maritime police with no infra

With just 22 police stations and three interceptor boats since 2006, each marine police station is tasked with covering an average area of 72 km.

On the other hand, Karnataka, which has a 320-km coastline, is manned by 62 marine police stations, Maharashtra’s 720-km coastline is under the jurisdiction of 44 police stations, Tamil Nadu has 42 marine police stations for its 1,076-km coastline, and Odisha’s 485-km and Kerala’s 580-km coastlines are manned by 18 police stations each.

In 2023, as part of the Coastal Security Programme Phase 3, 13 more police stations were to come up in Gujarat, but it is still in a limbo.

In January 2024, after the Opposition Congress raised the issue of coastal security and increasing drug menace, the Gujarat government banned access to 21 uninhabited islands in Kutch.

Sensitive Kutch coast

“Kutch is considered a very sensitive district in view of its international border. The uninhabited islands in the maritime area bordering Kutch record frequent cases of drug smuggling and infiltration. Also, criminals often tend to take refuge in these deserted islands,” said Amit Arora, the District Collector of Kutch.

“The BSF and Marine Police have found narcotics on Shekharan Peer, Ogtra, Lunabet and Khadrai Islands. Sometimes, Pakistani fishing boats are spotted around these islands. These islands are uninhabited apart from some religious and historical structures that draw tourists and devotees during winter,” added Arora.

Among these islands, 19 are within 12 nm of the nearest maritime police stations and one, Narara, is under the forest department.