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Rediff.com  » News » Why is West Coast prone to terror attacks?

Why is West Coast prone to terror attacks?

By Vicky Nanjappa
July 01, 2009 15:20 IST
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Home Minister Chidambaram's indication on the terror threat to the country's West Coast is serious in nature since this is a preferred route for terror operatives from across the border, say Intelligence Bureau sources.

The route was first introduced to the world of terror by Dawood Ibrahim in 1993. It was he who through his own intelligence network had indicated to terror operatives in Pakistan that this route could be used to transport both men and also arms and ammunition in order to carry out terror strikes in India. After identifying the route, the same year Ibrahim had used the same route to land his consignment of arms and ammunition. The same arms and ammunition were  used to carry out the deadly Mumbai blasts in 1993.

Sources told rediff.com that there have been inputs that terror groups are trying to land more arms and ammunition using the same route. Terror groups are aware that it is difficult to man the entire coast and hence will try and take full advantage in order to land their arms and ammunition. The Lashkar-e-Tayiba even took advantage of this vast sea coast and sent its men to carry out the Mumbai 26/11 attack.

This was confirmed even by the Defence ministry which had said that there is a possibility of terror groups trying to offload weapons in the Mumbai sea port using the same route.

As per the report, the areas which are under the terror scanner as of now are Gujarat, Goa and Maharashtra. All these places have been soft targets for terrorists and all these areas can be reached easily by terror outfits by using the same coast. While the Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat is an obvious target for terrorists, they also have plans to carry out strikes in Goa which is a hotspot for tourists.

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Vicky Nanjappa