Sea front open to infiltration: Govt

WATER TERROR: A K Antony has admitted that India is still a sitting duck for terror attacks.

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New Delhi: On March 12, 1993, one of the world's most wanted terrorist, Dawood Ibrahim and his men carried out the worst ever terror strike on India. Led by Abu Salem, the gangsters brought in as much as 7,000 kg of explosives from the sea.

March 12, 1993: Mumbai city rocked by serial bomb blasts at 13 places. It was the most destructive ever terror attack on India.

Key Targets: Mumbai Stock Exchange at Colaba, the Air-India Building at Nariman Point, Shiv Sena Bhavan at Dadar, Zaveri Bazaar at Girgaum and the Passport Office at Worli.

Casualties: 257 killed and 1,400 injured.

In February 2006, CNN-IBN's Special Investigation Team tried to smuggle in a cargo of three crates, which could well have contained over 100 kg of RDX, to Mumbai from the international waters right past the Navy and the Coast Guard.

And it succeeded, not once, not twice, but thrice at a stretch - without a single roadblock.

As the SIT re-enacted the terror attacks of 1993 as part of its Operation Water Rat, it exposed an explosive conclusion - that India is still a sitting duck for a terrorist attack.

Now, a year after the CNN-IBN expose, the Government has admitted that there is likelihood of terrorists infiltrating India through sea routes.

"Terrorists of various outfits, after being imparted training, could use sea routes to enter India," Defence Minister A K Antony was quoted as saying in Lok Sabha by news agency PTI in reply to written questions.

He said the Coast Guard has prepared plans to augment its strength, infrastructure and assets to further improve its effectiveness all along the coastal areas, including Kerala.

He also identified maritime terrorism, gun-running, drug trafficking and piracy as major threats from the sea borders and elaborated on the measures being taken to enhance coastal security.

Antony said a case of involvement of three Army personnel with a terrorist outfit in Jammu and Kashmir had come to Government's notice. These personnel have admitted to have provided items like clothing, boots, SIM cards, torch cells to the terrorists, fearing threats to their families.

(With inputs from PTI)