Two suspicious boats were found near Harihareshwar shore in Maharashtra’s Raigad, following which the district was put on high alert. Three AK-47 rifles, explosives and bullets along with some documents were seized from the boats. Security in Mumbai has been tightened following the seizure. While one boat was carrying ammunition, the other one had life jackets and some documents.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also handles the home department, said the boat was owned by an Australian woman, which drifted due to the inclement weather and came to the Raigad coast.
Fadnavis said this at the state assembly after NCP legislator Aditi Tatkare raised the issue in the House. “The boat found drifted off the Raigad coast is owned by an Australian woman. Some semi-automatic weapons have been found on it,” he said.
The yacht, which is four metres wide, was on its way to Europe from Muscat in June when it drifted to inclement weather, he said. The Australian couple abandoned it after engine trouble, he said, also adding that it is unclear why it was carrying firearms.
He also said though there wasn’t any probability of a terror angle, police are investigating all aspects. “There is no confirmation of any terror angle. The boat has just drifted here. We are not ruling out anything, investigating all aspects. Police have been asked to be on high alert,” Fadnavis added.
Regarding the boat carrying firearms, a Coast Guard official told PTI that since a yacht moves slowly, it is permitted to carry small weapons. “When the people onboard abandoned the boat, they did not carry the weapons with them,” the official said.
Boat drifted and washed up on Raigad coast due to bad weather, says company
As soon as the boats of ‘Neptune Maritime Security’ were found, security was tightened in the financial capital of Mumbai, which is around 200 km from Harihareshwar shore. Police have swung into action and checked vehicles on the Mumbai-Goa highway.
Neptune Maritime Security, meanwhile, issued a statement saying that one of the boats, named My Lady Han’, suffered damage during the monsoon in the Arabian Sea in June. “The yacht was damaged during the monsoon in the Arabian Sea, causing the Captain to declare an emergency. While the crew were rescued, the yacht was unable to be salvaged due to the extreme weather conditions. Earlier this morning, Neptune P2P Group were made aware that the vessel, which was presumed sunk, had washed up on Indian shores,” the company said.
It added that the company was working with the owner of the vessel and the Indian and UK authorities to determine the official recovery procedures of the vessel and controlled items.
The RDX that landed at Shrivardhan on Thursday refreshed the memories of 1993 when the explosive was used for the first time to make bombs. The explosions in Mumbai, masterminded by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim along with Tiger Menon, were the biggest terror attacks to be conducted in India to date.
Anees Ibrahim, Dawood’s younger brother, was assigned the task to get RDX on Indian soil, and the original plan was to bombard Bombay in April 1993, on the occasion of Shiv Jayanti.
(With PTI inputs)
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