Did 'terror boat' crew contact the Pakistan army? Defence Min to review all intercepts

As the controversy continues over the whether the Coast Guard intercepted and destroyed an alleged ’terrorist boat’, the Ministry of Defence has reportedly called for a full review of all intercepted communications which led to the boat being apprehended.

On 2 January, the Ministry of Defence had in a statement said that the Indian Coast Guard had intercepted on 31 December,  a suspect fishing boa full of explosives on the Arabia Sea, based on intelligence reports. It claimed that the Coast Guard ship warned the fishing boat to stop for further investigation of crew and cargo. Fur persons were seen on the boat and they did not cooperate with the Coast Guard and instead hid themselves. They are then alleged to have set the boat on fire which resulted in their deaths and its destruction.

However the ministry’s claims were questioned in an earlier report by the  Indian Express’ Praveen Swami who wrote  on 2 January that there were doubts that the boat posed any terror threat and that “those on board might have been small-time liquor and diesel smugglers.” The earlier IE report also stated that based on government sources, “the intelligence had no link to terrorism, and made no reference to any threat to India.”

However, other reports state that a second, and so far untraced, vessel that was accompanying the intercepted boat may have been in touch with a handler who was relaying information to the Pakistan Army. It also now suspected that the target of the mysterious boat may have either been a naval base that the Prime Minister was to visit or the Vibrant Gujarat Summit that is to begin soon.

A  Times of India report quoted an unnamed source as saying that one of the wireless intercepts indicated that those on the boat were in frequent touch with someone who was in turn relaying information to the Pakistan Army and the country’s maritime security agency. The person in Pakistan was also talking to another unidentified individual in Pakistan frequently as well, the report says.

The source was quoted as also saying that an intercepted message from the second boat stating that its crew was heading back after finishing their task, which is suspected to be a mid-sea transfer of arms and ammunition.

The potential target of the boat that was intercepted may have been the inauguration of a naval base by Prime Minister Narendra Modi or the annual Vibrant Gujarat summit that is to be held this week,  reported the Hindustan Times . 

While the opening of the naval base in Porbandar has been put off indefinitely, the report also quoted unnamed sources as saying that spectroscopic analysis had confirmed the presence of explosives on board the ship that was intercepted by the Coast Guard.

In the midst of contradictory media reports, the Defense Ministry has called for an independent review. According to today’s Express, the Ministry “has also asked the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) for logs and audiotape of intercepted Thuraya satellite-phone communications, on the basis of which it asked the Coast Guard and Navy to intercept the fishing boat”. 

Interestingly the report also points out that the Coast Guard has refused to provide even Intelligence Bureau officials access to the ship.

The IE reports goes on to note that forensic experts who saw photos of the burning boat were unconvinced that the flames were caused by explosives noting that there were no “white plumes characteristically associated with fires involving explosives.” The report notes that the message from the fishing boat to its crew, which was picked up the NTRO on 31 December was not shared with RAW or IB.

Earlier a report in DNA   had pointed out that “even senior intelligence agencies are wondering why the Coast Guard chased the boat when it was on the fringe of India’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).”

The report pointed out that “according to UN convention, a nation can chase or intercept suspicious vessels if they prohibit the host nation’s passage or if they (suspicious vessels) loiter above or under the surface of the sea. That was not the case here.” In addition to this report noted that Indian fishermen claimed that they never saw a fire.

Meanwhile the Coast Guard is sticking to its version of events. Coast Guard Commander (North-West Region) Kuldip Singh Sheoran told reporters that the men on the boat “nowhere looking like fishermen, they had wore t-shirts and half pants, and this raised suspicion on our side.”