Indian SIGINT Reportedly Shows Links Between Pakistani Military and ‘Terror Boats’

January 4, 2015

Wireless intercepts indicate ‘terror’ boats were in touch with Pakistani army

NEW DELHI: Electronic chatter shows that two Pakistani fishing boats, one of which sank after being intercepted by the Coast Guard in the Arabian sea in early hours of January 1, were in frequent touch with Pakistan army and Maritime Security Agency of Pakistan through a “contact”.

Sources privy to the wireless intercepts, which led technical intelligence agency NTRO to alert the Coast Guard, claimed that the “contact” also talked to someone in Thailand on a frequent basis.

It was around 8.30am on December 31, that the Coast Guard received the first intercept about two “suspicious boats” headed towards Indian waters from Keti Bandar near Karachi. The Coast Guard then launched a Dornier reconnaissance aircraft, apart from diverting patrol vessel ICGS Rajratan towards the area.

One fishing boat was “positively identified” by the afternoon, while the other could never be traced. Then followed the “hot-pursuit” of the intercepted trawler with ICGS Rajratan firing warning shots at it, which finally ended in the boat sinking — with four people on board — around 365km from Porbander early on January 1.

Crew talked of ‘finishing task’

“While the first boat was sinking, another intercept from the second boat talked about it heading back after finishing its task. They could have been involved in a mid-sea transfer of arms and ammunition,” said a source.

The intercepts strengthen the official view in New Delhi that the fishing boats were on a sinister mission. On a day when Pakistan accused India of trying to tarnish its image by orchestrating the “drama”, maintaining that no boat from Karachi had gone to the open seas around that time, defence ministry here stuck to its guns that the “rogue vessel” was carrying some explosives.

The ministry said that those aboard the boat were thwarted from carrying out “a possibly dangerous mission” in “a well-coordinated operation” between NTRO and Coast Guard. “The four people on board either went down with the ship or jumped into the sea after setting it afire,” said an official.

But India is taking no chances. With the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and Vibrant Gujarat events slated to kick-off from next week, the security vigil along the long Gujarat coastline has been stepped up in view of continuing intelligence inputs about terror threats emanating from the sea.

Even as defence minister Manohar Parrikar was briefed on the wireless intercepts and the entire operation, defence ministry officials dismissed questions on whether those on board the Pakistani fishing boat were actually terrorists or just smugglers and if disproportionate force had been used to stop it.

An aerial view of the “terror” boat, off the Porbandar coast.

“It was rogue boat, which repeatedly ignored warnings to stop, switched off its lights and tried to speed away in an area where Pakistani fishing vessels do not usually come. It’s easy to raise questions about the operation but can one imagine what would been the consequences if the boat had managed to evade the security net,” said an official.

Then, of course, there were the specific intelligence inputs that the boat was on some nefarious mission towards the Indian shores. “The Coast Guard regularly intercepts Pakistani fishing boats when they come into our waters without shots being fired or people being killed. This vessel, however, behaved very suspiciously. No fishing nets were down, neither were the people dressed like fishermen,” said the official.

Moreover, Pakistani fishing boats usually operate in areas around the Sir Creek region, rarely if ever venturing into where the mysterious boat was intercepted on January 1. While it will be difficult to connect all the dots behind the conspiracy, with the boat sinking to the seabed, several agencies are now jointly investigating the incident to get as many details as possible.