Three arrested as 30 kg hashish oil seized on Maldives-bound barge
DRI and the Indian Coast Guard intercepted a Maldives-bound tug-barge off Tamil Nadu and seized 29.954 kg of hashish oil valued at Rs 32.94 crore. Three accused, including a crew member who aided the loading, were arrested and remanded to judicial custody.
🇮🇳 Tuticorin New Port, Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu · India
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and the Indian Coast Guard jointly
intercepted a Maldives-bound tug-barge vessel and arrested three people.[1][2][3]Those held included the man who placed the drugs on the vessel, his accomplice,
and a crew member who shared the vessel’s location with the gang.[1][3]
Officers recovered 29 packets weighing 29.954 kg of hashish oil from the barge.[1][2]The agency valued the hashish oil at Rs 32.94 crore in the illicit
international market.[1][2][3]
The tug towing a barge laden with rock boulders had departed from Tuticorin Old
Port for the Maldives.[1][2][3]A Tuticorin-based gang covertly loaded the hashish
oil onto the barge mid-sea with assistance from a crew member.[4][3]At the DRI’s
request, the Coast Guard intercepted the vessel on March 5, 2025 off the
Kanyakumari coast and escorted it back to Tuticorin New Port by March 7, 2025.[4][2][3]A search found two bags holding 29 plastic packets labelled as food items
containing a black-coloured liquid paste that field-tested positive for hashish
oil.[1][2]The haul was seized under the NDPS Act and the three accused were
remanded to judicial custody on March 8.[4][2]
Photos and video
Seized hashish oil after the joint DRI-Coast Guard interception of the Maldives-bound vessel. Photo: PIB via ANIPhoto details
Press Information Bureaupib.gov.inIn mid sea operation, DRI and Indian Coast Guard intercept a vessel en-route to Maldives; seize 30 kg Hashish Oil worth ₹33 crore; three held
ANIaninews.inDRI, Indian Coast Guard seize 30 kg Hashish oil in joint operation, 3 held
Open questions the AI reported
No names of the three accused were published.
No court outcome beyond remand to judicial custody on 8 March 2025 was reported.
The release's headline describes the seizure as taking place on 7 March 2025 and gives a value of ₹33 crore, while its text dates the interception to 5 March and values the haul at ₹32.94 crore; the report keeps 8 March as the incident date for the remand and the lower exact valuation.
The three photographs published with the release carry no individual captions or credits on the page; they are described here from the release text and their position in it.
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