3 foreign boats carrying arms, drugs intercepted off Lakshadweep

Three foreign boats were intercepted off Lakshadweep coast on Thursday by the Indian Navy and Coast Guard and arms, ammunition and narcotics were recovered from them, Defence sources said. Indian Navy and Coast Guard in close coordination with Lakshadweep administration conducted a swift operation to apprehend the boats of Sri Lankan origin, which were carrying heroin, AK 47 and 1,000 rounds of ammunition, they said. Acting on reliable information, the Southern Naval Command's Donier aircraft had tracked a group of 3 to 7 fishing boats, 90 nautical miles South West of Minicoy Islands for the last 80 days and passed the inputs to the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard.

This is the second such incident reported from the same sea route this month.

On March 5, three Sri Lankan vessels with 19 men on board were intercepted by coast guard ship 'Varaha' in Indian territorial waters about seven nautical miles off Minicoy.