Kids see 'men with backpacks'
Mumbai, Sept. 22 (PTI): A high alert was sounded along the Mumbai coast today after school children reported seeing a group of men moving suspiciously near a naval base at Uran in Maharashtra's Raigad district.
"As per the reports, five to six persons were sighted in Pathan suits and appeared to be carrying weapons and backpacks," naval spokesman Commodore Rahul Sinha said in a statement.
Some children from Uran Education Society's school reported seeing the suspects and their teacher informed police.
The alert, four days after the Uri attack that left 18 soldiers dead, led to the National Security Guard (NSG), the state police's specialised Force One commandos and the Anti-Terrorism Squad being deployed for search and security, police sources said. The navy pressed its choppers for aerial surveillance and heightened patrolling in the sea.
The Western Naval Command issued a "highest state of alert" along the Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane and Raigad coasts where several sensitive establishments are located. Western India's biggest naval base, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, fertiliser plants, refineries, power plants and the country's largest container port JNPT are located near Uran.
Coastal security has been a top priority after the 26/11 attacks, in which multiple locations in Mumbai were targeted by Pakistani terrorists who arrived by sea.
The fishing town of Uran is located across Mumbai's eastern waterfront. The base also houses units of MARCOS, the navy's elite strike force.
All police stations along the coast are on alert, Maharshtra police chief Satish Mathur said.
