Two hours after the 16m-long yacht was found by fishermen around 8am, an abandoned raft was found in Diveagar, 10km away. SP Ashok Dudhe said the raft was part of a yacht. The incident brought back memories of the November 26 Mumbai attacks when 10 Pakistani terrorists entered via the sea.
But terror fears were eased as the state government quickly clarified. “Once the unidentified ship was discovered by local fishermen, police authorities and Indians coast guard has been warned. The origin of the boat has been clearly identified by them,” said the Deputy Politburo and Interior Minister. Devendra Fadnavis. “According to the preliminary information that has been identified by the agencies, there are no horrifying angles at this time. Information about the boat has been verified by many agencies. But the investigations are ongoing and we cannot rule out any angle,” he added.
The yacht, named My Lady Han, owned by Australian citizen Hana Lordrangan. It was traveling from Muscat in Oman to Europe when it developed a technical fault on June 26 and broadcast an emergency call. A Korean warship rescued them and took them to Oman. Unconfirmed reports said there were between two and four people on board.
The counterterrorism team, which has been asked to take over the investigation and has seized the weapons, will register a case under the Weapons Act against Unidentified Persons, said Vineet Agarwal, director of the ATS.
Police said that in addition to three AK-74 guns and ammunition in a black thread truck labeled ‘Neptune Maritime Security’ torn, they also found several documents, life jackets, water and other food. on the boat. Late Thursday afternoon, officials had largely ruled out a terrorism angle after contacting Neptune Maritime Security Limited, said it provided security for the ship.
“In June 2022, Neptune P2P Group provided security service on board ‘My Lady Han’. The yacht was damaged during monsoons in the Arabian Sea, prompting the captain to declare a state of emergency. The crew was rescued but the yacht could not be salvaged,” it said in a statement.
In Raigad, the suspicious boat with the panic weapon is a memory of the 1993 landing of the weapons and the RDX used to carry out mass explosions in Mumbai brought back by the Dawood Ibrahim gang. In total, 257 people were killed and 1,400 injured after the 1993 explosion while the 2008 attack claimed the lives of 175 people.
Late in the evening, the yacht, which was supposed to be difficult to bring to shore, was swept ashore. An official said: “The yacht was stuck 200 meters from shore but divers and Coast Guard officials were rushed to pull the boat to shore.
