Indian Coast Guards Intercept Pakistani Vessel off Gujarat Coast

 

A possible re-run of 26/11 was averted when a suspicious fishing boat went up in flames some 365 kilometres from Porbandar in Gujarat after being signalled to stop for inspection by a Coast Guard patrol vessel.

The successful operation was made possible by particularly precise intelligence input, which stood in contrast to many previous occasions where intelligence alerts have been vague, making it difficult for security agencies to carry out necessary follow-up actions.

The intercepts gathered by National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) were the basis of the operation. 

The rogue fishing boat was said to be sailing from Keti Bandar around 100km south of Karachi. 

The specific intelligence input about the movement of the suspicious boat was passed on to the coast guards who later launched the operation to intercept the vessel on the morning of December 31,2014

 

The coast guard’s Dornier surveillance aircraft kept a watch on the movement of the boat since 11.00am. 

Two more aircraft took off subsequently and trailed the boat for the entire day. 

The fishing boat was finally intercepted after around 12 hours since first being spotted by patrol ship Raj Ratan close to the invisible international maritime boundary between India and Pakistan, which is around 200 nautical miles south west of Porbandar

The coast guard ship first fired a warning shot signaling the crew of the boat to stop. Instead, the boat took on speed leading to a chase that went on for an hour. 

The crew of the coast guard ship spotted four men in the boat who refused to obey their instruction and reportedly went below the deck and set the boat on fire.

 The board was soon up in thick flames

Despite a 48-hour search at and around the site where the Pakistani 'terror boat' sank after its crew reportedly set it ablaze, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) ship Raj Ratan returned to Porbandar harbour this weekend, empty-handed. The only evidence of what took place that night now lies in the footage shot by sailors onboard ICGS Raj Ratan on the night of December 31, as the boat was intercepted off Gujarat's coast.