Valsad police seized a packet of Afghani charas lying abandoned on the banks of Tithal beach on Sunday.[1] Officers found the packet on the ground beside a protection wall near the Sai Baba temple on Sunday evening after local passersby tipped them off, and forensic science laboratory officials checked the material.[1] The seized charas weighed 1.18 kg and police valued it at Rs 58.60 lakh.[1]

Valsad rural police registered a case under sections of the NDPS Act, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, against unknown persons and began a probe.[1]

In the previous 22 days, police in Surat, Navsari and Valsad had seized 93 packets of high-purity Afghani charas valued at over Rs 56.46 crore from different seashores.[1] On August 12 and 13, Valsad police recovered 32 packets of Afghani charas in beach areas near protection walls at Udvada and Dhanti-Bhagal village in Pardi taluka, each weighing 1.18 kg and together worth around Rs 19 crore.[1] Gujarat Samachar reported that 21 packets of charas were found in Valsad by the local crime branch and special operations group, with writing in Urdu on them.[2] It said three suspicious packets found during coastal checks in Surat contained approximately 3 kg of Afghani charas worth Rs 1.50 crore.[2] Gujarat Samachar said smugglers wrap the packets in six layers so the parcels survive being thrown into the water.[2]

The Indian Express described Afghani charas as produced from live cannabis grown in Afghanistan.[3] An earlier Indian Express account of the first Udvada seizure put it at 11.746 kg and the international market value of a kilogram at Rs 50 lakh.[3] That account called the Udvada find the first such consignment on the South Gujarat coastline.[3]