Pakistan boat intercepted off Gujarat coast

New Delhi, April 20: A boat from Pakistan has been intercepted off the Porbandar coast, MoD Spokesperson Sitanshu Kar confirmed. The boat which was being watched by the Indian Navy and the Coast was intercepted today as it was found to be suspicious in nature.

The boat is being taken to Porbandar and further investigations will be conducted. Sources say that the boat was suspicious in nature and hence it had to be intercepted.

"In a coordinated operation, Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard have apprehend a boat carrying large quantity of narcotics in international waters off Gujarat coast. The operation also resulted in the apprehension of 8 Pakistani nationals manning the boat," Kar tweeted.

He said the operation was launched on April 18 based on intelligence inputs. He said Indian naval Nirghat, Kondul and ICGS asset Sangram were deployed for the operation.

The sources however did not divulge what the boat was doing on Indian waters. All we can say now is that investigations need to be conducted and only then will further details be learnt, the source also added.

Boat was being watched:

The two navy ships and the coast guard ship involved in the operation had been watching this boat since the past couple of days. The Indian navy was watching if there was some illegal activity being carried out by the inmates of the boat.

The navy’s Dornier aircraft picked up the intercepts and regularly passed it on. Sources say that it is too early to tell if the boat had strayed in or was there an attempt to deliberate penetrate into the Indian waters.

There has been an ongoing operation from Pakistan to send in such boats and attempts had been made in the past to carry out an attack off the Gujarat coast. On December 31 2014 one such boat was intercepted and it was suspected that there was ammunition and explosives on it.

The boat however could not be intercepted and the inmates blew it up. The coast guard did fire warning shots and even directed the inmates of the boat to surrender, but they refused to do so and blew up the boat instead.

"In a coordinated operation, Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard have apprehend a boat carrying large quantity of narcotics in international waters off Gujarat coast. The operation also resulted in the apprehension of 8 Pakistani nationals manning the boat," Kar tweeted.

He said the operation was launched on April 18 based on intelligence inputs. He said Indian naval Nirghat, Kondul and ICGS asset Sangram were deployed for the operation.

OneIndia News