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| India-Pakistan |
| Satellite phone vital clue to solve Mumbai attack |
| 2008-11-29 |
| MUMBAI: The satellite phone and global positioning system (GPS) map recovered from a trawler abandoned in the high seas is now among the most crucial pieces of evidence connected to the terror attacks on Mumbai. The vessel, Kuber, was found drifting 5-6 nautical miles off the Mumbai shore; the entire crew is missing except for the group leader, Amar Narayan, 38, whose body was found on board with limbs tied, blindfolded and neck slit open. Kuber is believed to be the mother boat used to launch the inflatable dinghies which carried the terrorists to the seafront at Colaba. Intelligence agencies are scanning the satellite phone's records to track the places from where calls were made to the vessel. The boat has been now handed over to the Mumbai police. The trawler had last set out from Porbandar, 310 nautical miles from Mumbai, on November 13. Owned by a man named Vinod Masani, it had a five-member crew. Sources believe it was most likely hijacked near the maritime boundary, where incursions by vessels on both sides are frequent. The terrorists are believed to have used the trawler for cover to make the journey to Mumbai without being detected by the Coast Guard. A nondescript, 25-metre-long fishing vessel bearing the name ‘Kuber’ in the Gujarati script and a Gujarat registration number would have barely raised an eyebrow in a region dotted with numerous such boats. To complete the appearance, it carried nearly 50 kg of marinated fish, rice and lentils. "Most of the time, we act on specific information. We rarely check such fishing trawlers with Indian flags,'' admitted a Coast Guard officer. Four fishermen who were on the boat, Balwant Prabhu, 45, Mukesh Rathod, 20, and Natu Nanu, 20, of Navsari and Ramesh Nagji, 37, of Junagadh are still missing. The owner of Kuber - Vinod Masani and his brother - Hiralal have also been detained by the Gujarat police. Kuldeep Singh Sheroan, commanding officer of Coast Guard ship Sankalp said the crew leader Amar Narayan was killed in a brutal manner by the terrorists. They tied his limbs and put a band around his eyes and then knifed his neck, he said. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 "'Most of the time, we act on specific information. We rarely check such fishing trawlers with Indian flags,' admitted a Coast Guard officer." And why the hell should they have to? It's time the Indian navy spent its time and resrources effectively: shooting Pakistani vessels out of the water. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2008-11-29 05:09 |
| #1 Animals. No mercy. Feed them polonium. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-11-29 00:24 |