Dhow’s easy entry worries ATS

S Ahmed Ali TNN

April 6, 2013

Mumbai: ATS officials have ruled out the terror angle in Thursday’s dhow seizure case but have expressed concern over smugglers sneaking into the country with the same ease as the 10 Pakistani terrorists who launched the 26/11 attack on the city in 2008.
    The Gujarat-registered dhow, MSV Yusufi, was seized by the Yellow gate police in a joint operation with the coast guard. The police found the vessel was used for smuggling cigarettes, electronic goods and livestock into the country.
    The dhow had come under suspicion after its crew spoke to their handlers in Dubai via the banned Thuraya satellite phone that was used by the 26/ 11 terrorists.
    The seized cargo included 31 goats, which the police are now finding difficult to feed.
    The police on Friday asked the BMC-run abattoir to accept the goats, but civic officials refused on the grounds that the livestock might be infected with a deadly flu virus.
    “The BMC officials suggested that instead of providing shelter to the foreign goats, we should kill them, but we don’t know how we are going to manage it,” said senior inspector Pandurang Dhoke of the Yellow Gate police station.
    Deonar abattoir general manager Dr Pramod Dethe said there were restrictions on accepting imported livestock.
    “We are not authorized to shelter these animals as there is a central agency which medically checks the imported livestock coming into India,” Dethe said.The police now plan to approach a private vet.
    The police were also looking for Haji Usman Gachhi, a resident of Minara Masjid area in Masjid Bunder who owns a shop in Manish Market and was allegedly supposed to be the recipient of the cargo. The police seized 447 cartons of imported cigarettes, two LCD TVs, liquor, mobile accessories and the goats.
    The five persons who were on the dhow were remanded in police custody till April 10. They were identified as Ahmed Paleja (45), Iqbal Umi (41), Yaqoob Thakara (43), Abdul Mandwani (32) and Yunus Bolim (31). The police said the dhow, owned by Gujarat-based fishing firm Yusufi, left Kutch on March 28 and loaded its consignment from a merchant vessel coming from Dubai in the high seas. The police have also summoned Romi Iqbal Hassan, the owner of the firm and aresident of Mandvi in Kutch. Did real terror boat get away? I nsiders said there was one more dhow or trawler that was carrying a consignment of mobiles and accessories, but it had gone missing. They said there was an intelligence input that this vessel was carrying RDX. TNN

SEIZED: The MSV Yusufi, which was intercepted on Thursday