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Coast Guard to intensify patrolling along `sensitive stretches'
Vani Doraisamy and C. Jaishankar
| Vigilance stepped up after seizure of LTTE boat laden with explosives |
PRIZE CATCH: The boat apprehended by the Coast Guard at the Chennai port.
CHENNAI/RAMANATHAPURAM: After the seizure of a boat laden with explosives off Kodiakarai on Wednesday the Coast Guard has intensified patrolling of "sensitive stretches" along the Tamil Nadu coast. The boat reportedly belonged to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
"We have already added two more ships to the existing patrol strength. Another one will join soon," said Inspector General Rajendra Singh, Commander, Coast Guard Region (East).
"Based on an analysis done by us, we will be doubling or even tripling our patrol in sensitive areas. We will also deploy concentrated aircraft patrol when and where necessary. We are fully equipped to deal with any such situation," said B.K. Pattasahani, Deputy Inspector General, Coast Guard.
Refusing to be drawn into the controversy as to where the consignment was headed, IG Singh said the Coast Guard's job was only to intercept and it was for the police to investigate. The Coast Guard had detained the ship and handed over the crew and the materials seized to the police.
On the observation by State Director General of Police D. Mukherjee on Thursday that the boat was not headed towards Tamil Nadu, he said: "We passed on whatever information our initial enquiries revealed to the police. It is for them to conduct further investigations."
The interception of the boat was done at considerable personal risk by the crew of ICGS Ramadevi, headed by Commandant (Junior Grade) Kothari. Only the sophisticated surveillance equipment available with the Coast Guard picked up the radar signal of the boat.
"But even surveillance equipment have their limitations, especially in terms of reach, and the policing of the long and porous Tamil Nadu coast calls for extreme vigilance," he added.
"The coconuts and the rice bags seized from the LTTE boat had been used as a decoy for the arms, ammunition and the suicide belt and only intense probing by the Coast Guard crew was able to reveal the sensational catch," the DIG said.
There were no reports of the Sri Lankan Navy firing anywhere at the time of the seizure. Hence, it was clear that the vessel did not enter Indian waters to escape the Sri Lankan Navy.
Navy to send samples to Vizag
The Navy will send samples of the seized components of improvised explosive devices off the Rameswaram coast to the Naval Metallurgical Research Laboratory at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Commander S. Mukherji, Area Commander, South, told The Hindu on Friday that the aim was to establish the exact nature of the metal bars and to identify their different uses. The melting point of the bars could also be established at the lab.
He said some of the seized materials such as metal bars, metal rings, washer rubbers, caps and others had already been sent to the Naval Officer in Charge, Chennai for study. After a preliminary inspection, these would be sent to NMRL.
He said in spite of the rough weather, Navy personnel were put on high alert along the coast of Rameswaram.
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