City's first attack boat a Machine gun-toting speed boat can shore-up unguarded coast
City's first attack boat a machine gun-toting speed boat can shore-up unguarded coast
Seven months after the 26/11 attacks, the coastal police have acquired its first attack boat.
The fibreglass boat called Indrayani, capable of touching speeds of up to 50 knots, will help intercept any suspicious boat along the city's shoreline.
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Deadly weapon: Indrayani is one of the three interceptors that the coastal police have. The other two will be introduced later |
The coastguard mans the seas 200 km from the shore, but the entire stretch before it is unguarded.
Indrayani is capable of carrying 16 marine police personnel and can be fitted with light and medium machine guns.
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Rs 1 crore price tagIndrayani is one of the three interceptors that the coastal police have.
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But while the other two will be introduced later, Indrayani has been undergoing trials, which are conducted by the Motor Transport department of Mumbai police, off the Mumbai coast for the past 24 hours.
The boats have been funded by the Ministry of Home Affairs and cost around Rs 1 crore each. The coastal police have ordered 12 boats like Indrayani to protect the state's shorelines.
Joint Commissioner of Police (law and order) K L Prasad confirmed Indrayani is undergoing trials.
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Fishing vessel M V Kuber, which sailed into Mumbai waters with the 10 Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists last year, cruised from the Gujarat coast at an average speed of just 7 knots.
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Sensitive coastThe government had formed a special marine cadre to counter sea-borne terrorist attacks along the coast of Maharashtra in 2007.
There are nine detachments of marine police stretching from Thane to Sindhudurg district in the south.
Some of the units are located at Satpati, Dhigi and Madva along the Raigad coast. Marine police positions can also be found at Bhankot, Nate and Jaigad ports in Ratnagiri district.
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Achara, Nevati and Vijaydurg are important positions near Sindhudurg, and will be strengthened by fast interceptors.
