Paradip, Jan 14: A crew member of the Indonesian cargo ship who was detained in connection with seizure of 20 Kg cocaine, allegedly attempted suicide on Sunday.
He reportedly jumped into the sea in a bid to end life while he was rescued by the sleuths and was rushed to the hospital.
Sources said, the crew member, stated to be the third engineer of the ship, jumped into the sea after allegedly slitting his hand. He was rescued and admitted to the Paradip Port Authority Hospital. He was later shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack as his condition was stated to be critical.
The concrete reason behind the extreme attempt is yet to be studied. However, It is suspected that he might have made the attempt due to mental pressure as their team has been confined to the ship for around one and half months now.
No comments could be obtained from the police and Customs Department officials in this regard.
However, an agent of the ship said, the crew member got injured while doing the repair work of the ship.
The ship is currently anchored at the anchorage, some four to five km from the port under the supervision of the Customs department. All 21 Vietnamese crew members have been detained on the ship.
The Customs department and NCB officials are currently investing into the circumstances in which the cocaine found its way onto the ship, apart from looking into the people who are involved in it.
Worth mentioning, the Customs Department had seized about 22 kg of cocaine valuing approximately Rs 220 crore from one ‘MV Debi’ ship arrived from Gresik port in Indonesia and was leaving for Denmark , docked at Paradip Port in December, 2023.
Based on an input from a crane operator who spotted suspicious packets in the ship, the search was conducted on the intervening night of Nov 30 and Dec 1, 2023.
