Pirates are New Pawns in Qaeda Terror Game ?

A new flank has opened up on the terror front much to the discomfiture of the Mumbai police.

With well- armed Somali pirates playing truant on shipping lanes from the Indian Ocean to the Gulf of Aden between Somalia and emen, Al Qaeda and its affiliate terror organisations like the Lashkar- e- Toiba are likely to outsource maritime terrorism to mercenary pirate groups consisting of Somalians, Kenyan and Nigerians, said a senior police official.

"There have been a series of coordination meetings between the Navy, Coast Guard, police, Customs and maritime authorities, in the last few weeks. The State Intelligence Department Commissioner K L Prasad who is the coordinating head between Central government agencies and the police in the state, regularly reviews the intelligence inputs and joint patrolling operations along the coastline. Accordingly, in the last few weeks, local police stations along the Mumbai coastline have intensified their onshore combing operations and surveillance. The police have stepped up interactive meetings with the local fishing community to keep them on the alert against terror suspects infiltrating into vulnerable entry points along with coastline," disclosed a senior police official.

The Mumbai Police have already beefed up its surveillance along the coastline as intelligence reports indicate that terrorist outfits from across the border are planning to execute a repeat of the 26/ 11 attack in the near future Mumbai police have stepped up not only their onshore surveillance but even intensified the joint patrolling exercise along the Konkan coastline in the wake of intelligence reports that Pakistan- based terrorist outfits are strategising a terror attack through the porous western coastline of India.

Police have alerted fishermen along the coastline to be vigilant against suspicious movements of unidentified small vessels moving along the coastline and using entry points like jetties and shallow landing points in the city.

The frequency of interaction between the local police and fishing community in Mumbai too has increased, to review the security alertness of the local fishing population in fishermen colonies in the Island City.