New Delhi: Rejecting the smuggling angle, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday said that the four men seen on board the Pakistani boat, that blew itself up were terrorists and not smugglers because they committed suicide.
Speaking to reporters, Parrikar said that, “I think they were suspected terrorists as they committed suicide, a normal boat even carrying drugs can surrender. The location was not normal sea route; even the smugglers normally take the busy route so that they can mingle with boats.”
He also lauded the Coast Guards for acting promptly and averting any probable act of terrorism.
The fishing boat carrying explosives was intercepted by the Coast Guards in the Arabian Sea but the four occupants on board set the vessel afire and exploded it before it sank with them.
The incident, which resembled the operation undertaken by terrorists from Karachi who had come in a boat before they launched their dreaded attack in Mumbai in Novermber, 2008, took place during the midnight of Dec 31 and Jan 1 when the Coast Guard spotted the vessel about 8 km inside the Indian waters on the maritime boundary with Pakistan.
The hot pursuit continued for nearly one hour and the Coast Guard ship managed to stop the fishing boat after firing warning shots. Four persons were seen on the boat who disregarded all warnings by the Coast Guard ship to stop and cooperate with investigation, the statement said. Soon thereafter, the crew hid themselves in the deck compartment below and set the boat on fire, which resulted in an explosion and major fire on the boat, it said.
Ten terrorists involved in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack had reached Mumbai in a boat from Karachi in Pakistan. The attack had left 166 people dead.
The Coast Guard and other security agencies were maintaining high vigil in the maritime and coastal areas in the last couple of months due to several inputs on threat from the sea.
