The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) ship on Thursday seized 1,160 kilograms of banned drugs, worth Rs 300 crore, being supplied to a South-East Asian country via a vessel with six-member Myanmarese crew, officials said on Saturday.

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Coast Guard Inspector General Manish Pathak said ICG ship Rajveer seized the vessel along with the drugs off Port Blair. 

ICG on September 19 had detained the vessel with suspicious packets found in the gunny bags which were later analysed by the Narcotics Control Bureau at the Port Blair, said Coast Guard Spokesperson DIG Vijay Kumar.

On thorough examination, packets were found to contain ketamine drug, Kumar added.

The entire operation was conducted independently by the coast guard after a Dornier surveillance plane detected its suspicious movement and later on it was apprehended by ICGS Rajveer. 

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also congratulated the coast guard team for confiscating a huge cache of narcotics.

Reports said the cargo was suspected to be part of a larger drug networking cartel operating in the Indian Ocean region.

The six crew members onboard the Myanmar ship were being interrogated by officials of the Narcotics Control Bureau and local police in Port Blair of Andaman Islands.

The boat carrying the drugs sunk in the Indian Ocean after it was flooded by sea waters while it was being ferried ferrying from Car Nicobar to Port Blair, IANS reported. 

(With ANI inputs)