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LeT men infiltrating through sea route
Published on Sat, Apr 14, 2007 at 00:55, Updated on Sat, Jun 16, 2007 at 10:52 in 
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New Delhi: After the national Security Advisor M K Narayanan raised concerns over maritime terrorism, intelligence reports suggest that eight suspected Lashker-e-Toiba militants have infiltrated through the sea-route.
Of them, two have been arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir police. This is first such known incident of LeT men in J&K taking the sea route - an incident, which once again puts coastal security under scanner.
Abdul Majeed and Mohammad Jameel, suspected LeT militants, were arrested by J&K police from Rajouri in March. But these terrorists did not enter India through Kashmir's mountain passes - they came by sea.
Documents available with CNN-IBN reveal that terrorists have now breached coastal security along India's west coast.
On February 23, eight LeT militants left a coastal village in Pakistan. Once in Indian waters they were transferred to an Indian boat. Manning these boat were two alleged Indian LeT operatives Asif and Abbas. On shore, the group was met by another operative codenamed Sameer
The J&K Police chief says it's the first time the sea route has been exploited.
Jammu and Kashmir DGP Gopal Sharma said, "Two LeT men were arrested in Rajouri and they have informed that eight men came in and yes sea route was used."
But there's a twist. According to the interrogation report the infiltrating vessel developed a snag on February 28 was spotted by the coastguard and intercepted.
The militants revealed they were LeT members surrendering a mobile, a satellite phone and Rs 80,000. But on March 3, the men were mysteriously let off.
The report alleges the Coastguard was paid Rs 10 lakh for this.
Officers at the Coastguard's regional head quarters in Mumbai are unwilling to comment but the fact that Lashker-e-Toiba operatives were able to infiltrate through Indian waters despite being intercepted by the coastguard demonstrates the extent to which terrorist organisations may have infiltrated into the Indian defence forces but this lapse raises more questions than answers.
Was this a case of corruption or perhaps a counter intelligence move?
Maharashtra Police DGP Dr P S Pasricha said, "We have strengthened our state intelligence, along with district intelligence and that is what we are concentrating on and have also increased surveillance both on land and at sea."
Even if the operation was in control of Indian agencies, the ease with which operatives changed identities is worrying.
Jameel initially had a student ID as Dheeraj from Chembur in Mumbai. The men even had fake documents from Delhi and Chandigarh and in Jammu they even had voter I-cards.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Election Officer B R Sharma said, “The preliminary investigations have revealed that 64 voter cards are not available with us and two have been used by militants."
Intelligence reports say there are up to 500 marine terrorists trained in sea sabotage waiting to enter India by the sea-route.
From crossing over the Line of Control to breaching the coastal lines, terrorist organisations are constantly finding newer ways to infiltrate. And this first know case of sea-route infiltration only reiterates that terrorism has spread its roots deep down.
(With inputs from Pawan Bali)
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