A fishing boat that reportedly exploded on 1 January when ordered to stop by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) may have carried smugglers, rather than terrorists, as the ICG claims, some Indian commentators are arguing.
When told to halt their vessel, the four crew members hid in a below-deck compartment and set fire to the boat, triggering the blast, according to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
But claims the action foiled an attack are being disputed amid fears that fishermen or small-scale fuel smugglers were mistaken for terrorists.
Commentators have pointed to apparent inconsistencies in official reports, saying these call into question their accuracy.
MoD and ICG statements say intercepted communications on the Thuraya mobile phone network on 31 December indicated that "terror suspects" were leaving the Pakistani port of Keti Bandar, near Karachi, bound for Gujarat.
"A fishing boat from Keti Bunder near Karachi was planning some illicit transaction in Arabian Sea," said the MoD.
Indian intelligence agency National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) said the messages revealed that each man was given INR0.5M ($7,883) to carry out an attack on the Gujarati port of Porbandar.
The unnamed 7.6m-long vessel was "laden with explosives" and suspected of being under the control of Islamist terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Early on 1 January, ICG patrol vessel Rajratan spotted the suspect boat 197nm off Porbandar.
ICG commander (North West) Kuldip Singh Sheoran is reported in The Hindu newspaper as saying the boat attempted evasive manoeuvres and switched off its lights.
"We saw four men on the boat - they were nowhere looking like fishermen," he told Indian media.
The boat was also said to contain no nets or other fishing gear.
In a statement, the MoD said "darkness, bad weather, and strong winds" prevented the recovery of the crew or the boat, which sank in the early hours of 1 January.
While Indian defence commentators praised the effectiveness of the country's coastal surveillance system, others pointed to discrepancies in MoD and ICG accounts.
Forecasts suggest that, rather than amid "bad weather", the incident took place in calm conditions. Photographs of the boat's hull intact could also cast doubt on the ICG's report of an explosion.
Quoting MoD sources, the Indian Express noted that smugglers and fishermen were the main users of Thuraya sets, while LeT and other terrorist groups prefer encrypted Inmarsat-4 and -5 systems.
Pakistan has branded the incident a hoax, claiming no fishing boats or crews were missing from Keti Bandar or nearby ports.
Since the seaborne Mumbai attacks, India has become nervous about its maritime security. In response to the perceived threat, the Indian Navy abandoned the formal inauguration, on 12 January, of its new INS Dwarka-II base at Porbandar.
Indian Navy warships, ICG surveillance aircraft, and Gujarat Police unmanned aerial vehicles are being deployed in the run-up to US president Barack Obama's visit to India in three weeks' time.
Source IHS
