K'taka govt gave shelter, treated Somali pirates as guests

Bangalore, Feb 28: A couple of years back, the Karnataka government gave shelter and treated two Somali pirates as guests and sent them back to Somalia at government expenses.

The Somalians, who are known for their piracy, had lost their way in sea and reached Karnataka-Goa border, they were mistakenly treated as gues1ts without knowing their real identity.

They had landed at Kumta near Gokarna on Karnataka-Goa border, informed a senior intelligence officer.

"For lack of information or sheer ignorance, the police and the local authorities extended all help and support to them, including board and lodging.

Since language was a problem, they even took the help of some translators. Later, the two were sent to Bengaluru from where they were flew back to Somalia on government-paid tickets," the officer said.

"Even now, though the MHA is pumping in hundreds of crores of rupees post-26/11 for beefing up coastal security, there remains only one police station which can register anti-piracy cases in the entire western coast of India stretching from Gujarat to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu," he added.

OneIndia News