Absence of international norms to regulate heavily armed guards on board merchant ships can have serious security implications for India as terrorists can infiltrate into the country leading to a 26/11 type of attack, Navy chief Admiral DK Joshi said here on Tuesday.
Expressing this concern, he also said the Government has reports that combatants from some countries take employment on a temporary basis on these ships for some months and called for mechanisms to identify number of guards and types of weapons carried by them. His remarks came in the backdrop of seizure of the US ship MV Seaman Guard Ohio off the coast of Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu two months back with weapons and guards on board and the killing of two fishermen allegedly Italian marines off Kerala last year.
Addressing the annual news conference on the eve of the Navy Day on Wednesday, Joshi termed weapons and guards on merchant ships as floating armoury and said, “This is entirely unregulated.” He said the Government has also received reports about the presence of combatants from some countries who on a temporary basis take up these employments and become private armed guards. Asked if he meant that these combatants are from Pakistan, Joshi said, “I am referring to what I am referring to.”
He wanted a mechanism in place under the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) wherein littoral states are aware of the identity of these ships, the number of weapons and guards present on them. Joshi also sought a “reversal” of high risk areas for merchant ships plying in the piracy prone zones, saying such an extension in these zones has resulted in incidents such as the killing of four Indian fishermen by Italian marines near Kerala coast.