NEW DELHI: The Centre has alerted coastal states, including Gujarat and Maharashtra, and asked Navy and Coast Guard to step up patrolling in sea following an 'interception' of a telephone call - made from a ship using satellite phone off Kutch coast to the US - about possible arrival of consignment of arms and ammunition along the Indian coast line. The call was intercepted by Central security agencies on December 31. An unidentified person made a call through Thuraya satellite from a ship, which was at that time at Gulf of Kutch, off the Gujarat coast, to a US number. Sources said during the 232-second English conversation, the receiver enquired about the precise maritime location of the ship, consignment of the weapons and nature of the Customs patrol. The information, including the US telephone number, has been shared with American agencies to verify the details from their end, they added. Fearing that terrorists may try to replicate the 26/11 terror attack, the Centre has asked the states and other agencies to check movement of all ships and closely monitor fishing trawlers. The Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorists, who attacked Mumbai in November, 2008, had come to the metropolis using sea route from Karachi. Though the security agencies suspect it to be an international gun-running operation and alerted all agencies concerned to take necessary steps to stop any such consignment, they do not rule out the possibility of it being routed to local terror modules through organized crime network.
