Rs 220 Cr Cocaine Seizure In Odisha’s Paradip: Court Seeks Rs 110 Cr Bond For Release Of Ship

Paradip: A court in Odisha on Monday sought bond for Rs 100 crore and bank guarantee for Rs 10 crore for the release of the ship from which cocaine worth Rs 220 crore had been seized in Paradip.

Hearing the case relating to the drugs haul, the NDPS court at Kujang in Jagatsinghpur district ordered that MV Devi ship would be released after furnishing Rs 100 crore bond and Rs 10 crore bank guarantee for release of the ship.

It may be noted here that in a major drug haul, cocaine weighing 22 kg worth Rs 220 crore was seized from the ship from Indonesia at the Paradip port on November 30, 2023.

Twenty-two suspicious packets were spotted in a crane on the ship anchored at the Paradip International Cargo Terminal (PICT). The packets were found to have contained 22 kg of cocaine valued at Rs 220 crore.

The Panama-registered cargo ship, named MV Debi, began its voyage from Egypt and arrived here via the Gresik port in Indonesia. It was scheduled to depart for Denmark with steel plates from here, officials said.

Sources said that the alleged contraband was seized from the ship, which had arrived at Paradip International Cargo Terminal (PICT) of the port from Indonesia’s Gresik port, while being shifted to a Denmark-bound ship, carrying steel plates from Odisha.

Following the seizure of cocaine, the ship was detained and investigation was underway. No one was arrested in connection with the seizures, but the crew members of the ship were detained as part of the probe. All the crew members were from Vietnam and the ship is operated by Asia Pacific Shipping Co Ltd, sources said.