Dark seas, floating drug bags, foreign smugglers: Inside Gujarat’s biggest cocaine seizure

AHMEDABAD: In one of the biggest maritime anti-narcotics crackdowns in the country, a joint operation by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and the Indian Coast Guard uncovered a sophisticated international drug trafficking syndicate using sea routes from Latin America to India by seizing 115kg of cocaine worth Rs 1,150 crore.

Officials said on Wednesday that this was the biggest seizure of cocaine by the Gujarat ATS so far, from cargo vessel MV Europe anchored near Mundra port in Kutch district.

Three foreign nationals allegedly linked to the smuggling network were arrested. One more accused, believed to be a Tanzanian national, jumped into the sea during the operation and is feared drowned. Officials said the cocaine consignment originated in Brazil and travelled through Mexico, the US and Karachi before reaching Gujarat waters.

The narcotics were allegedly concealed in the ship’s motor room in Nov 2025 and were to be transferred to another vessel in the outer anchorage of the Mundra port before being routed to Delhi for distribution across India.

Gujarat DGP K L N Rao said the operation was launched after ATS inspector J M Patel received intelligence inputs about a large cocaine consignment being smuggled into India through maritime channels. Acting on the tip-off, ATS teams rushed to Mundra on May 25 and coordinated with Coast Guard officials for a midnight interception operation.

During surveillance at the anchorage, nearly five nautical miles from Mundra, ATS and Coast Guard teams observed suspicious movement on the deck of MV Europe. As Coast Guard interceptor boats approached the cargo vessel in darkness, two crew members allegedly threw several heavy bags into the sea.

Despite poor visibility and rough sea conditions, officials managed to recover five floating bags from the water. One bag could not be traced. Preliminary testing confirmed the white powdery substance in the bags to be cocaine.

A total of 115 packets weighing approximately 115kg were recovered. Officials said the drugs were valued at nearly Rs 10 crore per kilogram in the international market. Police also recovered four Apple AirTags and GPS satellite communication devices concealed inside the vessel, suggesting that the consignment was being electronically monitored throughout its international transit route.

ATS officials identified the accused aboard the vessel as Tanzanian nationals Juma Nasir Omar and Ngingite Nassoro Jumanne. Omar was arrested from the ship, while Jumanne allegedly jumped into the sea during the search operation.

Simultaneously, Gujarat ATS teams, with assistance from Delhi Police, detained two alleged receivers of the consignment — Nigerian national Kelvin Chukwuama and Ugandan national Bairunge James — from Dwarka in Delhi.

Officials suspect the drugs were to be transported by road from Kutch to Delhi, hidden inside trucks carrying perishable commodities. From Delhi, the cocaine was allegedly meant to be redistributed in smaller consignments across multiple Indian cities through courier and underground distribution networks.

According to ATS officials, the vessel had remained stationed in the anchorage area for nearly two days, waiting for another boat to arrive and collect the consignment. However, continuous Coast Guard patrolling reportedly disrupted the transfer plan, eventually leading to the interception.

The ATS said Omar confessed during interrogation that he had concealed the cocaine inside the ship’s motor room without the knowledge of other crew members and was acting under instructions from international handlers. Police are yet to get the information about those handlers, an ATS official said.

Officials described the seizure as a major breakthrough against transnational maritime drug cartels and said it reflected increasing coordination between intelligence agencies, ATS units, Coast Guard, marine police and port authorities. This was the 15th successful anti-narcotics operation jointly conducted by the Gujarat ATS and the Indian Coast Guard in the last five years.

'Delhi was key distribution hub’
Investigations revealed that the drug syndicate had planned a carefully coordinated mid-sea transfer operation off the Gujarat coast before routing the narcotics to Delhi for nationwide circulation. Senior ATS officials said the consignment concealed inside the vessel’s motor room was to be shifted to a fishing boat or another maritime vessel in the early hours of Tuesday.

However, the continuous presence of Coast Guard patrol boats in the area forced the traffickers to delay the exchange repeatedly. Officials said once the contraband was successfully transferred at sea, it was to be transported through road networks from Kutch to Delhi. ATS officers suspect traffickers planned to hide the cocaine inside trucks carrying perishable goods to evade scrutiny.

The Dwarka residence in Delhi, from where Nigerian national Kelvin Chukwuama and Ugandan national Bairunge James were detained, is now being examined as a possible distribution point for a wider narcotics network. ATS officials suspect the duo were part of a larger cartel operating an interstate drug supply chain. “Preliminary inputs suggest the entire stock would have been broken into smaller consignments and circulated through courier channels across multiple states,” an officer said.

ATS officers are also probing whether the network had delivered consignments earlier using similar maritime methods. They believe the seizure could expose a larger international syndicate linking Latin American cocaine suppliers with African operatives and India-based distribution handlers.

Court grants transit remand of two accused
An Ahmedabad court on Wednesday granted transit remand of two African nationals, who were arrested and brought here by ATS sleuths from Delhi. In its report submitted to the chief judicial magistrate at Ahmedabad rural court, the investigator stated that the crew member of the cargo ship from whom the contraband was recovered informed police that the consignment was meant to be delivered to Bairunge James, 46, a Ugandan national, and Kelvin Chukwuama, 33, from Nigeria.

A police team went to Delhi and arrested both and brought them to the ATS headquarters. The investigator requested a day’s transit remand to produce them before a court in Mundra in the next 24 hours.

Crew member who jumped into sea feared dead
One of the most dramatic moments during the anti-drug operation unfolded when Ngingite Nassoro Jumanne, a Tanzanian crew member, jumped into the sea after spotting ATS and Coast Guard teams approaching the vessel. Officials said the suspect had allegedly played an active role in handling and concealing the narcotics aboard the ship.

“The currents were extremely strong. Chances of his survival appear very grim. We have continued search operations for two days with Coast Guard assistance, but his body has not been traced,” an ATS officer said. The agencies are also trying to find the missing cocaine packet.

New modus operandi linked to Latin American cocaine cartels
Gujarat ATS officers said that the Mundra seizure has exposed an emerging maritime smuggling pattern involving Latin American cocaine cartels using global cargo shipping routes and multinational crew members to infiltrate narcotics into India.

They believe international drug syndicates are increasingly using commercial cargo vessels instead of traditional fishing boats to avoid any suspicion during long-distance maritime movement.

Electronic tracking devices used
Officials recovered four Apple AirTags (bluetooth tracking devices) from the narcotics bags along with Garmin GPSMAP satellite communicators concealed inside the vessel’s steering gear room.

Investigators believe the syndicate used the devices to monitor the exact location of the cocaine shipment in real time and coordinate mid-sea delivery points without direct communication. ATS officers said such technology-backed tracking helps syndicates avoid interception and maintain compartmentalised operations.

Largest cocaine seizure by Gujarat ATS
“This is the largest cocaine haul seized by Gujarat ATS till date,” a senior police officer said. “In cocaine trafficking, either very small quantities are intercepted or massive consignments like this surface.” Officials said the operation reflected increasing coordination among Gujarat ATS, Coast Guard, police, SOG Kutch-Bhuj and Mundra Port authorities. Agencies are now probing the cartel’s possible links with handlers operating from Africa, Latin America and South Asia.

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