While a major part of these landings have occurred on ports at Mundra, Pipavav, Mumbai, Tuticorin and Kolkata, some seizures have also happened at Container Freight Stations at Mundra, Gandhidham and Raigarh.
Ports in Gujarat accounted for 65 per cent of the ₹11,300 crore worth of illicit drug seizures that have landed on ports across India during the last five years between 2000 and 2024. While a major part of these landings have occurred on ports at Mundra, Pipavav, Mumbai, Tuticorin and Kolkata, some seizures have also happened at Container Freight Stations at Mundra, Gandhidham and Raigarh.
During this five year period, close to 5,000 kgs of illicit drugs have been seized across five the ports and three container freight stations in India, data tabled in the Rajya Sabha last week show. A significant portion of these seizures were from Gujarat where ₹7,383 crore worth of drugs were seized during this five year period. The private ports of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone at Mundra (₹6,386 crore), Port of Pipavav (₹1,80 crore) and Container Freight Station at Mundra (₹377 crore) and Gandhidham (₹302 crore), accounted for majority of these successful seizures, stated the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in a written reply to a unstarred question.
The other significant seizures have happened at major ports like Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai where ₹2,284 crore of illegal drug consignment has been seized. VO Chidambaranar port at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu (₹1,515 crore) and Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port in Kolkata (₹78 crore) are the other major ports where successful drug seizures took place during this five year period. DRI, Customs, Gujarat ATS, Maharashtra Police, Delhi Police were among the agencies who seized the consignments that consisted largely of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and tramadol Tablets and injections. From the Container Freight Stations at Mundra and Kolkata, 71.32 lakh of Tramadol tablets and 1,000 Tramadol injections were seized, respectively, during 2024.
According to the Union government, at least 17 persons have been arrested in connection with these seizures which includes propertitors of Sarvin Exports, Sandhu Exports and Custom House Agent (CHA) for the cases at Jawaharlal Nehru Port. Similarly action has been initiated against three custom brokers — Pacific Industries Ltd, Ahmedabad; Contrans Shipping Pvt Ltd, New Delhi and Saarthee Shipping Co Ltd, Gandhidham; for the cases registered in APSEZ in Mundra. These 19 cases registered during this period are in various stages of investigation and trial.
Published on August 25, 2025
