Yacht off Maha with AK-74 guns brings back 26/11 chills | India News

MUMBAI: An unidentified and unmanned yacht with three AK-74 guns and more than 600 live bullets was found off Harihareshwar beach in Raigad, almost 200km from Mumbai, on Thursday morning, sending security forces into a tizzy and leading to a high alert being sounded all over the coastal areas of the state.
Two hours after the 16m-long battered yacht was found around 8am by fishermen, an abandoned raft was spotted at Diveagar, 10km away. SP Ashok Dudhe said the raft was part of the yacht. The incident brought back memories of the 26/11 attack on Mumbai when 10 Pakistani terrorists came in via the sea.

But the terror fear was tamped down as the state government quickly clarified. “Once the unidentified vessel was spotted by the local fishermen, the police agencies and Indian Coast Guard were alerted. The origin of the boat was ascertained by them,” said deputy CM and home minister Devendra Fadnavis. “As per the preliminary information which has been ascertained by agencies, there is no terror angle at the moment. The information about the boat has been verified by multiple agencies. But investigations are going on and we cannot rule out any angle,” he added.
The yacht, named My Lady Hanis owned by Australian citizen Hana Lordrangan. It was sailing from Muscat in Oman to Europe when it developed a technical snag on June 26 and issued a distress call. A Korean warship rescued and carried them to Oman. Unconfirmed reports said there were between two and four people on board.
The anti terrorism squad, which was asked to take over the probe and has taken custody of the weapons, will register a case under the arms Act against unidentified persons, said ATS chief Vineet Agarwal.
The police said besides the three AK-74 guns and ammunition in a black fibre truck with a torn label, ‘Neptune Maritime Security’, they also found a few documents, life jackets, water and other food on the boat. Late on Thursday afternoon, officials almost ruled out the terror angle after communicating with UK-based Neptune Maritime Security Limited, which said it had provided security to the vessel.
“In June 2022, Neptune P2P Group provided security on the vessel ‘My Lady Han’. The yacht was dama- ged during monsoon in Arabian Sea, causing the captain to declare an emergency. The crew was rescued but the yacht could not be salvaged,” it said in a statement.
In Raigad, the suspicious boat with weapons caused panic as memories of the 1993 landing of arms and RDX used to carry out serial blasts in Mumbai by the Dawood Ibrahim gang returned. In all, 257 people lost their lives and 1,400 people were injured after the 1993 blasts while the 2008 attack cost 175 lives.
By late evening, the yacht, which was proving difficult to bring on shore, was beached. “The yacht was stuck 200m from the shore but scuba divers and Coast Guard officials were pressed into service to tow the boat to the shore,” said an official.