Mumbai: Movements at sea being closely monitored after Hafiz Saeed’s release

Mumbai: The Vice-Admiral (Western Command) of Indian Navy, Girish Luthra, on Friday told the media, all the movements at sea are being closely monitored in coordination with other agencies including Air Force and Coast Guard and the ‘surveillance at sea has been intensified. This development comes after Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of 26/11 Mumbai attacks, was released from Pakistani jail, is alleged to have spewed venom against India and threatened to work towards the independence of Kashmir.

“We have already intensified our surveillance at sea. Whenever we get any intelligence input, we closely check it in cooperation with Air Force, Coast Guard and Marine Police before coming into final conclusion,” added Luthra.

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Saeed, the head of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) walked free after the Pakistan government decided against detaining him further in any other case despite Indian authorities had claimed that Saeed, who has a USD 10 million American bounty on his head for terror activities, coordinated Mumbai terror attacks sitting in Pakistan.

A squad of 10 Pakistani terrorists including Ajmal Kasab trained from the Lashkar-e-Toiaba (LeT) had sailed across the Arabian Sea from Karachi for several days, crept into Mumbai on three inflatable speedboats shortly after nightfall on Nov 26, 2008 and fanned out in the city to attack on the targets including luxury hotels – Taj Mahal Palace and Oberoi Trident.

The firebrand cleric Saeed, who is in his late 60s, was released ahead of ninth anniversary of Mumbai terror attacks in which 166 people were killed. India has repeatedly asked Pakistan to re-investigate the Mumbai terror attack case and also demanded trial of Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in light of evidence it had provided to Islamabad.