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The Mumbai terror attacks
have proven the vulnerability of sea routes,
being one of the main passages used by
terrorists.
Maritime Institute of Malaysia maritime security
and diplomacy researcher Sumathy Permal said
security analysts believed that maritime
infrastructure and transport was being
increasingly used by terrorists to carry out
attacks.
The Mumbai terror attacks emphasised the crucial
need to secure the sea lanes of communication
from being used as a terrorist passage.
“One of the more intriguing aspects of the
Mumbai attacks is how the team of terrorists
entered Mumbai.
“Although the Mumbai attacks and operations
happened on land, the terrorists earlier used
the maritime mode to reach their target. This
brings into question the effectiveness of
maritime security around the city,” he said.
Sumathy said the chronology of the terrorists’
journey from its “training base” in Rawalpindi
to Mumbai reflected the lack of security of the
seas to halt terrorist operations.
According to a news report, the preparations for
the attacks began a year earlier in a remote
mountain camp in Muzaffarabad, Kashmir.
Upon completion of their training, the
terrorists travelled from Rawalpindi to the
eastern port of Karachi where they charted the
merchant ship mv Alpha and headed to Mumbai.
The cargo ship headed into the Arabian Sea and
was confronted by the Indian Navy. According to
the sole captured militant, the Indian navy was
actively boarding foreign vessels and searching
holds.
They (the militants) then used their inflatable
speed boats to escape. They subsequently
hijacked a local fishing boat, Kuber, in an
attempt to escape from the Indian Navy.
The crew of the Kuber were murdered and the
ship’s captain was ordered to sail for the
Indian coast. Five miles from the coast, the
terrorists killed the captain before setting off
in their inflatable speed boats and headed
towards Mumbai.
This chronology of events, according to Sumathy,
raised several questions on the level of
maritime security there.
“When the terrorists charted mv Alpha at the
Port of Karachi, how did the port security fail
to identify these terrorists?
“Also, the terrorists’ escape via inflatable
boats showed lack of vigilance of the Indian
Navy.
“Sea surveillance and GPS (global positioning
system) were not adequately in place to monitor
the movement of the fishing vessel they boarded.
“And the terrorists that could have passed the
Port of Mumbai before entering the city - that
again raised the question of port security,” she
said.
Sumathy said the Mumbai terror attacks
emphasised the crucial need to secure the sea
lanes of communication from being used as a
terrorist passage.
“Maritime security stretches from the scrutiny
enforcement on land, sea and air.
“It is also important that there is coordination
between the security units. It appears that each
is interrelated with the other,” she said.
She added that intelligence information about
terrorist capabilities and activities was a key
factor in terrorism scenario assessment.
“The maritime security enforcement may act to
ensure that the responsible intelligence
agencies work to improve their intelligence
information gathering and reduce the uncertainty
of terrorism.
“It is important to improve the border
intelligence information collection, with a
specific orientation towards maritime threats.
“Better intelligence may also help ensure that
various federal maritime security activities are
more closely aligned,” she said. |
