How a 16-foot yacht points to nation’s vulnerability to a terror attack

When a team of police officials reached Harihareshwar and checked the 16-metre-yacht, they found a cache of arms which included three deadly AK-47 assault rifles, some small arms, live ammunition, and some papers. Immediately, Maharashtra and other states were put on the highest alert, as the ghost of the audacious 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai raised its ugly head.

As per the statement given by Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister (DCM) Devendra Fadnavis, who also is the home minister, in the state assembly, the boat is called Lady Han and belongs to an Australian woman Hana Laundergun. She and her husband, James Hobert, who is a captain, were going to Muscat from Europe, when the boat’s engine got damaged in the middle of the ocean and they gave a call for help. A South Korean warship rescued the couple but since their boat was a small one, it could not be rescued in the rough weather.

According to a statement given by the Coast Guard, the yacht had made a distress call on June 26, it had a UK flag, and four sailors were rescued from the ocean.

Investigating the terror warnings received on WhatsApp, the Mumbai Police and ATS immediately started their investigations and reportedly detained a person from Virar. An initial probe revealed that the number from which the messages were sent had the country code of Pakistan. The Maharashtra ATS has been given the charge of investigating the matter. The police and authorities heaved a combined sigh of relief when initial investigations indicated that prima facie there was no terror angle to the incident and that the WhatsApp messages seemed to be fake. The question is: How did an unmanned and armed boat reach the shores of Maharashtra?

The incident has all the markings of the November 26, 2008, terror attacks, which resulted in the killing of more than 150 innocents and injuring hundreds in Mumbai. Ten heavily armed Pakistani terrorists, military and commando trained by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and ISI, entered Mumbai via the sea route and caused havoc and devastation for 60 hours. Several brave officers from the Mumbai police, including the then ATS chief Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte, and Inspector Vijay Salaskar were martyred while fighting the terrorists. Mohammad Ajmal Kasab was caught alive thanks to the valiant effort by a martyred and brave constable from Mumbai Police – Tukaram Omble.

These terror attacks had left all our state and central agencies embarrassed. A special committee – the Ram Pradhan Committee – was formed to investigate what went wrong before and during the attacks. The committee in its report mentioned that there was a clear lack of coordination between state and central intelligence and investigation agencies, including the defence forces.

Based on the recommendations of the Committee, it was decided that heads of all state and central agencies, including the defence agencies, will meet at least once in six months to ensure that there is proper and seamless flow of information and intelligence between agencies. However, it is shocking and pitiful that in the past 13 years, this meeting has happened only once, in 2009.

After the 26/11 attacks, the Maharashtra state government along with the central government had taken several important measures to ensure that a similar attack doesn’t take place ever again. The coastal police was set up to man the 770-kilometre Maharashtra coastline. In Mumbai, coastal police stations have been established. Amphibian vehicles costing crores of rupees were purchased. But these vehicles today are no longer functional due to lack of proper maintenance.

According to initial information, the unmanned yacht that found its way to Maharashtra was abandoned in the Gulf of Oman on June 26. This means that this unmanned and armed vessel had been adrift for 53 days and travelled roughly 900 nautical miles (approximately 1,500 kilometres) crossing the international waters, entered the Indian waters, dodged the Indian Navy’s surveillance, managed to escape being stopped by the Indian Coast Guard and slipped through Maharashtra’s Coastal Police dragnet and reached the Harihareshwar shore.

This is exactly how Kasab and his team had entered Mumbai, by first travelling in a ship provided by the ISI from Pakistan to international waters. They then hijacked an Indian fishing trawler named – Kuber, killed its crew and abducted the owner. They entered the Indian waters in the Kuber, and hoodwinked the Indian navy and Coast Guard’s surveillance. As they reached the sea near Mumbai, they killed the owner and abandoned the boat and hopped onto two inflated rubber boats, attached with Yamaha engines, and sailed towards the shore undetected.

One can only shudder thinking about what could have happened if the yacht had been a manned and armed boat. It is now quite clear that, unfortunately, no lessons have been learnt from the astounding failures of 26/11.

The writer was Director General of Police (DGP) , Maharashtra, Police Commissioner of Mumbai & chief of the elite Mumbai Crime Branch. He was also Joint Director of CBI and IB