'Suspicious' vessel sends cops into a tizzy

After two ships drifted to Mumbai’s coast recently, the extra alert police swung into action on Wednesday after they got information of a suspicious vessel moving near Madh.

At the end of the chase, the vessel turned out to a barge going to Goa and nothing suspicious was found on it.

Earlier, the police control did not have information whether the vessel was manned or whether was drifting on its own.

The call was forwarded to the Coast Guard at 2.50pm and Coast Guard officials from the West Region headquarters launched an operation to investigate.

The ship was initially spotted by fishermen while it was near the Madh coast and then it started sailing towards the Juhu coast. Coast Guard ship Varuna and a Chetak helicopter was pressed into service to trace the vessel.  Around 3.30pm the Chetak helicopter spotted the vessel and hovered over it.

“Our officials closed down on the vessel around five nautical miles from the Worli coast and then boarded it,” said a senior Coast Guard officer. “We conducted investigations. There were around nine crew members on the vessel, which was a barge named Mogri. It was a newly built barge and was going from Vasai to Goa to pick up an iron ore cargo and they had all the needed permits and documents needed to sail.”

The vessel was thoroughly checked and nothing suspicious was found onboard after which it was allowed to sail further to its destination in Goa.

“The vessel was suspected to be suspicious as it was moving slowly --- around 3 to 5 nautical miles an hour and was sailing very close to the coast to avoid the rough seas as it was a new vessel,” the officer added.