An explosives-laden Pakistani trawler blew itself up late on December 31 night after being intercepted by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) in the Arabian Sea off Porbandar, Gujarat.
Coast Guard handout picture of the Pakistani boat that blew itself up off Porbandar coast. (ANI Photo)
All four people on board the vessel from near the Pakistani port city of Karachi are believed to have been killed in the dramatic episode, according to the defence ministry.
The suspicious behaviour of the boat's crew brought back memories of the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai six years ago. Then, 10 gunmen had travelled from Karachi in a boat, hijacked an Indian fishing vessel and steered it to Mumbai to go on a three-day rampage during which they killed 166 people.
A defence ministry official said the trawler stopped only after the ICG fired shots, but the crew had by then set it on fire, triggering a major explosion that sank the vessel. Neither the boat nor its crew could be "recovered" due to rough weather.
The ICG ruled out the explosion being an accident, saying the men on the boat sped away because they were hiding "something really serious".
"If they weren't doing anything wrong, then they had no reason to run, to set the boat on fire. Why would anyone set (themselves) on fire?" said KR Nautiyal, deputy inspector general of the ICG.
A top government source told HT it all began around 9am on December 31, after the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) issued an intelligence alert to the ICG that a suspicious Pakistani fishing boat from Keti Bunder near Karachi was headed towards India.
The conversations between the crew and their handlers in Pakistan were intercepted and intelligence authorities suspected that a terror strike was being planned.
With the NTRO providing the exact coordinates of the trawler, the ICG scrambled a Dornier plane at 11am to locate it. The Dornier captain was categorically asked not to fly too low as it would have alerted the crew. The plane spotted the boat at the exact location given by the NTRO.
It undertook a second sortie at 2pm and found that the rogue boat was still sailing towards India. The aircraft was launched for the third time at 5.30pm. It found no change in the boat's course. By now, the ICG was pretty clear that the Pakistani vessel was up to some serious mischief --- perhaps a 26/11-type terror strike or a suicide attack on an Indian warship.
It immediately ordered two warships patrolling the area to intercept the boat and interrogate the crew. ICG's in-shore patrol vessel Rajratan made contact with the boat around 11pm.
The warship warned the unlit vessel to stop for investigation but it swiftly changed course and attempted to speed away, taking advantage of the "darkness, bad weather and strong winds". This led to a hot pursuit that lasted for more than an hour before the four-man crew hid below the deck and exploded the boat.
"The consequences would have been disastrous had the boat slipped past our defences. It was on a suicide mission," the source said. Top security officials were at their desks, monitoring the entire operation till 4.30am on January 1.
Video: Pak boat blows up after interception by Indian Coast Guard
Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao told NDTV, "The coast guard has foiled attempts of a suspected terror boat that was actually spotted near the Indo-Pak maritime border."
"Possibly this was yet another attempt to sneak terrorists into the Indian territory."
The incident was also a chilling reminder of the terror threat on the high seas and the deadly bombing of the USS Cole 14 years ago. In October 2000, suicide bombers exploded a small boat alongside the US Navy destroyer in the Yemeni port of Aden, killing 17 American sailors and injuring another 39.
The drama came barely a month after navy chief Admiral Robin Dhowan said his force would observe no niceties if it came across Pakistani vessels due to a possible threat -- against the backdrop of militants attempting to hijack a Pakistan frigate in September.
(With AFP inputs)
A job well done by the coast Guard & other surveillance agencies : Raj Kadyan,Defence Expert http://ift.tt/1zHLmMt
— ANI (@ANI_news) January 2, 2015
KR Nautiyal,DDG Operations on Pak boat : Crew members set the boat on fire & in a few moments the entire boat blew up http://ift.tt/1zHLo7h
— ANI (@ANI_news) January 2, 2015
It's a big question as to how they managed to enter our territory. Govt must investigate:Rashid Alvi,Cong,on Pak Boat http://ift.tt/1zHLonv
— ANI (@ANI_news) January 2, 2015
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