ICG seizes Indian fishing boat for 'smuggling' betel nuts from Bangladesh
New Delhi (PTI): Indian Coast Guard authorities stationed in West Bengal have confiscated an Indian fishing boat for "smuggling betel nuts from Bangladesh," officials said on Saturday.
Based on intelligence inputs, an ICG boarding team was immediately deployed to the reported spot, where the abandoned fishing boat -- 'Laxminarayan' -- was located and confiscated, they said.
"The boarding party carried out a thorough rummaging of the vessel and recovered 52 bags of betel nuts, each weighing 50 kg, amounting to a total seizure of 2,600 kg," the Indian Coast Guard said in a statement.
The ICG Station, Fraserganj, "successfully conducted an operation on January 22," leading to the seizure of an Indian fishing boat for "smuggling betel nuts from Bangladesh to India," it said.
The seized boat was subsequently escorted to Fraserganj and berthed at Benfish Fishing Jetty, officials said.
The boat, along with the seized contraband, has been handed over to the Coastal Police Station, Fraserganj, for further legal proceedings, they said.
The Indian Coast Guard, in close coordination with other maritime security agencies, maintains a high state of alert along the coastline and in maritime areas to prevent illegal activities and smuggling by anti-national elements, the ICG said.
The ICG remains steadfast in its commitment to safeguarding the nation's security and economic interests, it added.
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Can't say when I'll return to India; legally barred from leaving UK: Mallya to Bombay HC
Mumbai (PTI): Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya, facing multiple cases of fraud and money laundering, told the Bombay High Court on Wednesday that he cannot say when he will return to India as he is legally barred from leaving the UK.
In a statement submitted through his counsel Amit Desai to the high court, Mallya said he did not have an active passport after it was revoked and hence, he cannot give a definite date of return to India.
The statement was submitted after a bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad made it clear last week that it would not hear Mallya's plea against the order declaring a fugitive economic offender until he returns to India.
The court had then asked the former liquor to clarify whether or not he intended to return to India.
Mallya, based in the United Kingdom since 2016, has filed two petitions in the HC -- one challenging an order declaring him a fugitive economic offender and the other questioning the constitutional validity of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.
The 70-year-old liquor baron is accused of defaulting on multiple loan repayments of several thousand crores and facing money laundering charges.
The businessman, in his statement to HC, said he cannot give a definite date for his return as he does not have his Indian passport, which was revoked by the government in 2016, and also because there are orders of courts in England and Wales that prohibit him from leaving the country.
"Mallya is not permitted to leave or attempt to leave England and Wales or apply for or be in possession of any international travel document. In any event, the petitioner is unable to precisely state when he will return to India," Desai read out the statement in the court.
The senior counsel reiterated that Mallya's presence was not required in the country for the court to hear his pleas against the fugitive tag and the provisions of the Act.
"If he (Mallya) were to appear in India, then all these proceedings would be rendered irrelevant as the statute says that once the offender appears in the concerned court of law, then all these orders would be set aside," Desai told the court.
The bench directed the Union government to file its reply to Mallya's statement and posted the matter for further hearing next month.
Mallya was declared a Fugitive Economic Offender in January 2019 by a special court hearing cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The businessman left India in March 2016.
