Maritime drug smuggling into Australia

India's coast guard said on Tuesday it had seized its biggest haul of illicit drugs when it stopped a fishing boat smuggling 5.5 tons of methamphetamine from war-torn Myanmar.

An Indian Coast Guard (ICG) reconnaissance air patrol spotted a small fishing boat in the Andaman Sea, which lies between India and troubled Myanmar, "operating in a suspicious manner."

A total of 340.5 kilograms of drugs in 10 sacks were seized on the border line in the eastern province of Van, the Defense Ministry has announced.

Turkish police seized 100.1 kilograms (220.5 pounds) of heroin in the eastern province of Van, according to officials on July 27.

In a statement, the provincial security directorate said the drugs were recovered from a van stopped in the Seyrantepe neighborhood in the Tuşba district.

Judging by a spate of drugs busts over the past 12 months, Balkan crime gangs are major players in the trafficking of heroin, cocaine, marijuana and synthetic drugs around the world.