Navy officers on mock-drill detained in Daman after being mistaken as terrorists

Daman: Six Navy officers, participating in a mock-drill in Daman on Thursday, were mistaken for armed terrorists by the locals, leading to their brief detention by the police.

They were released after the Western Naval Command in Mumbai confirmed their identities, said the Daman SP Eish Singhal.

Some residents of Nani Daman area alerted the police about suspicious movements of six persons in military uniform on Wednesday, thinking they could be terrorists.

“We have launched a manhunt. We also found a CCTV footage showing these uniformed men,” said Singhal.

Police found a boat on the coast near Kadaiya. “We then found five persons, who were not in uniform, standing by a mini-truck. They told us that they had come here to take the delivery of some material which weighs 200 kg,” said Sighal.

This prompted the police to intensify the search. At around 1.45 am on Thursday, the police finally nabbed six men in uniform near the Coast Guard Air Station in Nani Daman area.

“They were in full uniform and carrying AK-47 rifles. After detailed questioning, we found that all of them were Navy officers who had come here by their boat ‘Gemini’. They had been sent here by the Navy for a mock-drill called `DGX’– Defence of Gujarat Exercise.”

Lieutenant commander Rahul Mishra was leading the team.

The police then learnt that the five men and the mini-truck they had stumbled on earlier too had been sent by the Navy for logistical support and to collect the boat in which the Navy officers had arrived, but those men didn’t know that the object weighing 200 kg which they had to pick up was a boat.

The Navy had given no intimation to local police about the drill, he said.

PTI