06 September,2024 01:11 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
The boat was apprehended by Mumbai Police officials. Pic/ Sources via Faisal Tandel
Seven months after a Kuwaiti boat was seized when three men on board reached Mumbai undetected, giving a scare to security agencies, the vessel has been handed over to its owner after completion of legal formalities, officials have said, reported news agency PTI.
The incident occurred on February 6 when three men hailing from Tamil Nadu arrived in Mumbai on a boat which remained undetected all the way from Kuwait, raising questions about maritime security which was overhauled after Mumbai faced a major sea-borne terror attack in November 2008, a strike plotted and directed from Pakistan.
The Kuwaiti boat was spotted in the Arabian Sea near Sassoon Dock in south Mumbai and the three men on board the vessel were apprehended by police. Cops later placed the trio under arrest for entering illegally into India and seized the boat, reported PTI.
Seven months after the incident, the Kuwaiti boat, which was seized by police as part of the investigation into the case, was handed over to its owner Abdullah Sharahit on Thursday, an official said.
Sharahit came to Mumbai and went to the Colaba police station along with two lawyers and took custody of the Kuwaiti boat after fulfilling legal formalities, he said, reported PTI.
The incident had sparked serious concerns about maritime security post the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai.
The three men had reached Mumbai shores from Kuwait, where they were employed, by sailing in the boat for more than 10 days. The trio reached the metropolis by navigating the route with the help of a GPS device, reported PTI.
According to media reports from that time, the trio fled the Gulf country as they faced torture and exploitation by their employer.
The railway police in Maharashtra's Thane district have registered an attempt-to-murder case against a 25-year-old man after he allegedly opened fire at two persons at Badlapur station and injured one of them, an official said on Friday.
The incident, which police said was the fallout of business rivalry, took place at platform number 1 at around 6 pm on Thursday when the suburban station on the Central Railway route was chock-a-block with commuters.
(With inputs from PTI)
