Mundra cocaine haul: Final moments of Tanzanian crewman who leapt into sea

Ahmedabad: As Gujarat ATS and Indian Coast Guard teams closed in on the cocaine-laden cargo vessel off Mundra coast on the intervening night of May 25 and 26, panic gripped one of the crew members allegedly linked to the smuggling operation. Investigators now believe those frantic few minutes were the last moments of Tanzanian crew member Ngingite Nassoro Jummanne who leapt into the Arabian Sea in a bid to escape.

A senior police officer who witnessed the operation recalled that Jummanne appeared terrified as law enforcement teams boarded the vessel. “He ran from one side of the ship to another, desperately looking for a way out. It appeared he was trying to figure out how to escape the agencies,” the officer said. What followed was a split-second decision that might have cost him his life.

According to police, Jummanne climbed to the upper deck of the vessel and jumped into the sea from a height comparable to an eight-storey building. The waters below were rough and the currents unusually strong.

“When he hit the water chest-first, he did not appear to make any movement. We believe the impact may have rendered him unconscious. After that, he was swept away by the current,” the officer said.

Jummanne was known among crew members as a capable swimmer. Yet even that skill offered little protection against the conditions that night. Search teams from the Coast Guard continued combing the waters for two days, but neither the crewman nor the missing packet of cocaine allegedly discarded during the operation could be traced.

Police officers said Jummanne had been staying in a well-furnished cabin aboard MV Europe and allegedly played a key role in concealing the 115kg cocaine consignment inside the vessel’s motor room.