Hiral Dave
Thursday, June 30, 2011
The police said in both cases, the Yemenis were abducted and their boats hijacked in the open seas and not on the soil of any country, particularly India, which made the issue complicated.
On June 19, 14 Somali pirates and three Yemenis were detained after they drifted to the Una coast in Junagadh district. On June 26, another batch of 18 Somali pirates, and three Yemenis were detained off the Dwarka coast. At present, the 32 Somalis face charges under the Passport and Foreigner’s Act.
Jamnagar SP Subhas Trivedi said: “We will seek the help of Interpol. A database consisting details of these pirates and the Yemenis will be sent to Interpol for leads on their background.”
The Jamanagar police is still questioning the pirates arrested on June 26. Once the questioning is over, they will be produced in a court for seeking custody. The Junagadh police have already secured seven days custody of the 14 arrested on June 19, which will end on Wednesday night, after which they will be sent in judicial custody.
Junagadh SP Dipankar Trivedi said: “The course of interrogation and extent of Interpol’s involvement will be clear as the investigation progresses. The district police will send details to the Home Department, which will take up the matter with Interpol.”
Arrests raise coastal security concerns
The arrest of Somali pirates from the coast have raised serious concerns over the security of the state’s 1,600 km long coastline.
The multilevel security protection, which includes the Navy, Coast Guard, BSF and the marine police, was heightened after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks where LeT terrorists had hijacked a fishing vessel from Gujarat to escape detection. Intelligence officials have now said that the manner in which pirates have sailed on to the state’s coastline undetected has only underlined how porous the coastline is.
Incidentally, the security breach has occurred with the onset of the monsoon when the marine police grounds its boats as the sea gets rough. The marine police covers areas up to five nautical miles from the coast. Trivedi said: “The marine police doesn’t have trained swimmers or sophisticated boats and gets grounded every monsoon.”