Daijiworld Media Network - Karwar (SP)

Karwar, Oct 22: A Sri Lankan tug, which had accidentally entered the Indian waters, was taken into custody by the Indian Coast Guard, and released on Sunday after the staff were produced in the district court here on Saturday October 21.

Although the tug had been taken into possession on Thursday itself, the tug employers were produced in the district court on Saturday evening after the documents pertaining to the tug were verified.

Coast Guard sources said that the tug was pulling a barge to Abu Dhabi port from Colombo, and on the way, it had entered about 20 nautical miles inside the country's waters. The tug was just ten nautical miles away from Karwar later, the sources added. The tug had staff from Thailand and Indonesia but the captain was from Thailand. He had talked to his Abu Dhabi office by using his satellite phone, which was tapped by the control room of customs intelligence at Karwar. The customs intelligence which came to know that the tug had come close to Karwar, tracked the phone after which the tug captain spoke to his wife over phone. When the officials tried to contact the captain, he developed cold feet and switched off his phone, which was a blunder in itself. The Coast Guard was alerted as there was information about Mumbai-type attack shortly and also because of suspicion as the captain had switched off the phone. The Coast Guard staff located the tug and took the tug into possession and handed the staff to Coastal Security Police.

Police sub-inspector of Coastal Security Police station here , S M Rane, said that during the investigation, it was found that the tug had accidentally strayed into the Indian waters and therefore, after obtaining court permission and payment of fine, the tug was allowed to proceed on Sunday.