Over 250kg hashish wash up on eight Ratnagiri beaches in four days

Over 250kg hashish (charas) have been seized by the customs department from seven different beaches in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district. These contraband items were swept ashore between August 14 and August 17 in different plastic packets. 

A sample of the illegal substance was sent for chemical analysis test, following which it was determined to be hashish.

The items, wrapped in plastic packets, reportedly washed up on Murud, Karde, Kolthare, Ladghar, Kelshi, Borya, Burondi, Dabhol beaches in the Ratnagiri region.

Elaborating on the matter, a source in Maharashtra police said, "The patrolling team of the customs department initially found 10 suspicious packages (collectively weighing about 12 kg) in moist condition at Karde beach on August 14. After testing, it was confirmed to be hashish. Following this, the police were alerted and massive search operations were carried out on other beaches of the Ratnagiri region, and in a span of four-five days, more hashish was recovered."

Confirming the news, Ratnagiri Superintendent of Police (SP) Dhananjay Kulkarni told Republic, "The recovered packets have Afghani labels on them. The banned items were either dumped with the intention of smuggling or fell from a faulty vessel. Approximately, 250kg of hashish has been recovered. We suspect that the parcels were either coming from Pakistan or Afghanistan through the sea route. We have alerted the agencies concerned regarding this and further investigation is underway.”