India Seizes Merchant Ship Carrying 1,500 kg of Heroin

India's navy seized a ship carrying about 1,500 kg of heroin worth 35 billion rupees ($545 million) on Sunday in what it said was its biggest ever drugs haul.

 

The vessel, which was operating under the name MV Henry under the Panama flag, was intercepted off the Gujarat coast near the city of Porbandar, said S. Paramesh, deputy director general at the Indian Coast Guard.

 

It was sailing from Dubai to Alang, a town in Gujarat known for shipbreaking, Paramesh said.

 

The eight crew members aboard, all of whom were identified as Indian nationals, are under investigation.

 

($1 = 64.1100 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Additional reporting by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Tom Lasseter and Robin Pomeroy)