New Delhi: Navy and the Coast Guard are
carrying out operations simulating 26/11-type attacks to
prepare themselves to tackle such incidents in future and a
similar drill is being planned in Mumbai around the date the
militants struck last year.
The focus of the operations, being conducted since last
month, is to cut down on the response time and strengthen the
Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for all the security
agencies in times of such attacks, Defence Ministry sources
said here.
During such operations, they said, combined troops of
Navy, Coast Guard and other local security forces divide
themselves into two teams.
A small team of trained commandos dresses up the way
Ajmal Kasab and his accomplices were attired and hires a boat
without letting the other team know about it.
This small team, sources said, tries to attack a vital
shore-based installation in a particular state, same way the
terrorists did during last year's attacks.
At first, sources said, the effort is made by the
security agencies to arrest the 'hijacked' vessel on basis of
information received from patrol boats or from the fishermen.
If the attacking team manages to escapes and reaches the
shore, they added, it tries to capture a vital building such
as a nuclear installation, hotel or a government office and
the other forces try to 'eliminate' them in shortest time
possible.
"The whole effort helps us to analyse the situation
better and allows us to improve our response in such a
scenario," a source said.
On the western coast, the exercise has already taken
place in states such as Gujarat, Kerala and Goa and will be
held in Maharashtra around the same time the Mumbai attacks
took place last year, the sources said.
After all the exercises, they said, it has been observed
that after analysing the lessons learnt during the operations,
the forces have been able to finetune their shortcomings.
While conducting the operations, the Coast Guard
coordinates with the Chief Secretaries of the respective
states and their police forces and briefs them about the
conduct of the operations.
Another key focus area during the exercises, sources
said, is to educate the fishermen about remaining alert in the
sea and act as "ears and eyes" of the security agencies.
After the 26/11 terror attacks last year, where 10
terrorists had attacked multiple targets in Mumbai and killed
over 150 people, the Government has laid focus on
strengthening coastal security and improving the wherewithal
of the Navy, Coast Guard, Customs and Fisheries departments of
state governments.
In the recent past, Coast Guard and the Navy have
conducted various large-scale exercises such as Operation
Rahband and Operation Raksha to increase cooperation among all
the concerned agencies to prevent terrorists from using the
sea route to enter and attack Indian coastline.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, November 08, 2009, 12:41