State on high alert after terror intercept

Good morning friends.  Start of my daily routine again.  As usual I’m not missing the chance to know what is happening to the world especially to India.   A message about a terror strike in Mumbai make the government of India more aware.  They have started checking every boat and are also validate all the  details of the passengers. Which I think is the right thing to do to prevent all event like what happened to Mumbai.

Coast Guard intercepts radio message hinting at Terror attacks in south Gujarat, Maharashtra; deep-sea patrolling intensified.  Deep-sea patrolling has been intensified in south Gujarat as well as neighbouring Maharashtra following a radio message intercept that hinted at the possibility of an attack akin to 26/11 in the region.

Security agencies such as the Indian Coast Guard, Customs Department, Intelligence Bureau and the Gujarat Police held a high-level intelligence review meeting in Daman on January 21 following the intercept to take adequate preventive measures.

V R Kajale, Assistant Commissioner, Customs, Valsad, said his staff has been directed to extensively patrol the deep seas. There is also assistance from the Gujarat Police. Valsad Superintendent of Police D J Patel, said that the surveillance has been strengthen in the coastal areas in coordination with the Customs Department.

The Coast Guard had intercepted a message about a terror strike somewhere in Mumbai or in south Gujarat, following which the coastal areas of Gujarat and Maharashtra are on a high alert. Customs officers said they have started checking every boat and are also verifying details of the passengers.

The perpetrators of the Mumbai attack had crossed the International Maritime Boundary Line apparently with the help of local sailors and reached Mumbai via Gujarat.

 

Ref:  Indian Express

 

 

India, Russia to hold naval wargames in Indian Ocean

Good Morning Friends, Last working day of the week. Over busy schedul for today. let’s see how the day end with tragets and achievement. With past few days events in Indian Ocean, India and Russia to hold naval wargames in Indian Ocean. Read the full news below i found on PTI.

With India and Russia bolstering their naval armada in the Gulf of Aden, the two countries would hone in on anti sea-piracy operations in the upcoming INDRA-2009 joint naval exercise in the Indian Ocean in January next year. “A task force from the Pacific Fleet, led by the Varyag missile cruiser, will leave Vladivostok in December and set sail for the Indian Ocean to participate in joint drills with the Indian navy,” Fleet spokesman Capt 1st Rank Roman Martov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.

This is the fourth such exercise since 2003 under the inter-services cooperation agreement between the two countries. New Delhi and Moscow held complex wargames in the sea of Japan last year.

Another naval task force of the Russian Northern Fleet led by the ‘Pyotr Veliky’ (Peter-the-Great) nuclear-powered missile cruiser also known as ‘killer of aircraft carriers’, will also join the wargames. Besides counter-piracy, maritime law, counter-terrorism, and anti drug smuggling would be other features of the joint exercise.

The exercises are being held in the backdrop of steep rise in incidents of sea-piracy off the Somali coast and in the Gulf of Aden. Both India and Russia have a naval presence in the waters.