A total of nine crew members were found on board the Pakistani boat.
In a joint operation, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad and the Indian Coast Guard have seized over 300 kg of drugs worth Rs 1,800 crore which were dumped into the Arabian Sea by Pakistani smugglers who fled across the international maritime boundary on being chased, officials said on Monday.
Scenes from Gujarat before cyclone Biparjoy makes landfall.
Hundreds of people are being evacuated from coastal villages in Kutch district in view of cyclone Biparjoy, but authorities are facing a challenge as many villagers are reluctant to leave their livestock and belongings behind.
The state government has begun preparations to deal with the fallout of the cyclone as it will bring very strong wind and heavy rainfall in the region, officials said.
Wind speed at the time is expected to be in the range of 125-135 kmph gusting up to 150 kmph.
United Arab Emirates (UAE) astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi took to his Twitter to post a few pictures of Cyclone Biparjoy over the Arabian Sea.
The cyclone is expected to make landfall on Thursday evening as a 'very severe cyclonic storm' with maximum wind speed reaching up to 150 kilometres per hour, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
Electricity will be restored in affected areas by June 20, he said, talking to reporters in Bhuj, the headquarters of the Kutch district which bore the brunt of the cyclone.
Since its formation on June 6 in the southeast Arabian Sea, Biparjoy had maintained a northward track, gathering strength and becoming an extremely severe cyclonic storm on June 11, packing wind speed of more than 160 kmph, and then losing intensity a day later.
Relief Commissioner Alok Pandey told reporters that the government is constantly working to ensure that there is no loss of life due to the weather phenomenon.
Delayed by 10 days due to cyclone Biparjoy, southwest monsoon is likely to progress further and hit Mumbai between June 23 and 25, the India meteorological department said on Wednesday.
Cyclone Biparjoy made landfall near Jakhau Port in Gujarat on Thursday evening with a wind speed of 115-125 kmph gusting to 140 kmph as heavy rains lashed the coastal region, where several areas plunged into darkness due to power cuts and a large number of trees, electric poles and hoardings got uprooted.
Apart from 15 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 12 teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), personnel of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Indian Coast Guard and Border Security Force (BSF) are deployed for relief and rescue operations, officials said.
The fishing boat carrying drugs was intercepted mid-sea by a joint team of the Coast Guard and ATS near Jakhau harbour in Kutch district, the official said.
The packets containing cocaine, a powerful central nervous system stimulant drug, were found abandoned on the shore of a creek passing from Mithi Rohar village near Gandhidham town, said Bagmar.
The CG and ATS personnel seized the boat Al Sakar which had 50 kg heroin on board, in the Arabian Sea, the official said.
Cyclone 'Biparjoy' has an extensive damaging potential and it is likely to impact Kutch, Devbhoomi Dwarka and Jamnagar districts of Gujarat the most, the India meteorological department said on Tuesday.
The India Meteorological Department has said that the landfall process of Cyclone 'Biparjoy' has started in Saurashtra and Kutch regions of Gujarat. The landfall process will carry on till midnight with wind speeds reaching a maximum of 140 kilometres per hour, the IMD said.
The cyclone will make a landfall at around 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm on Thursday
After churning across the Arabian Sea for more than 10 days, Biparjoy made landfall near Jakhau Port in Gujarat on Thursday.
Of some 70 villages in the coastal area of Gujarat's Kutch district, people of Salaya are the last to shift to safe shelters in the face of the approaching cyclone Biparjoy.
A total of 33 teams have been earmarked by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to undertake relief and rescue operations in Gujarat and Maharashtra ahead of the expected landfall of cyclone 'Biparjoy' near the Jakhau port in Kutch district, officials said on Wednesday.
The Coast Guard ships intercepted and apprehended the Pakistani boat 'Al Haj' when it ventured into the Indian waters
The Indian Coast Guard along with the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad apprehended a fishing boat, carrying eight Pakistani nationals and 30 kg of heroin, near Kutch district's Jakhau coast on Thursday, an official statement said.
It will also be the third cyclone to hit the western state in June since 1965, the meteorological office said.
The boat was brought to the Jakhau coast in Kutch district of Gujarat for further investigation.
Authorities were on their toes in Banaskantha and Patan districts and relocated thousands of people residing in low-lying areas to safer places, they said.
According to IMD, the cyclonic storm weakened into a 'deep depression' at 11:30 pm on Friday over Southeast Pakistan.
All armed forces including the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and Indian Coast Guard have made necessary preparation to provide assistance to the local people of Gujarat.
Cyclone Biparjoy has left a trail of destruction in Gujarat's Kutch and Saurashtra regions as some 1,000 villages are still without power with hundreds of electric poles getting damaged, while several coastal villages were flooded due to heavy rains and incoming seawater, officials said on Friday, a day after the storm made landfall.
'Areas within 100 km of the landfall could suffer catastrophic effect.'
The WR is taking various measures including setting up disaster management rooms, help desks, and keeping relief trains ready.
One of the teams rescued two lion cubs that had fallen into an open well in Jasadhar Range of Gir East division during the cyclone's landfall on Thursday evening, the official said.
While two lives were "tragically" lost before the landfall of the cyclone, not a single human life was lost post the landfall in Gujarat.
Several major cyclones have hit various parts of India over the last 10 years. Here is a look at the notable among them.
The DG said the maximum of four teams of the NDRF have been positioned in Kutch district and the Gujarat government has done an in-depth evacuation exercise as part of which fishing boats have been anchored, big ships have been sent to the high seas so that they are not affected by the tidal waves, more than 4,000 hoarding have been taken down so that they don't become deadly flying objects as strong winds blow.
No lives were lost after cyclone Biparjoy made landfall. Preparations for Biparjoy were not only extensive, they were also telecast far and wide. Ahead of the cyclone's landfall, Shyam G Menon observes there was considerable publicity on how much the government was geared up to face the storm and its aftermath.
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