Exercise 'Sea Vigil' to beef up India's coastal security concludes

The Navy along with the Coast Guard on Wednesday concluded the two-day coastal defence exercise 'Sea Vigil' that was conducted in close coordination with all maritime stakeholders, including the fishing and coastal communities. The mega exercise undertaken along the entire 7,516 km coastline and Exclusive Economic Zone of India with over 30 ships and aircraft of Indian Navy and Coast Guard as well as 85 patrol boats manned by various security agencies participated in the exercise at West Bengal, Odhisa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nandu and Puducherry, a Navy spokesperson said.

While the Marine Police boats were operating up to five miles from the coast, Navy and Coast Guard had deployed their assets on the high seas. Air tasks of assests were also undertaken to maintaining high vigil at sea. During the exercise, all coastal police stations and control rooms, fishing harbours and landing centres, port control rooms, and other operational centres of Navy and Coast Guard were fully activated.

Security was beefed up at all vital installations/ assets and SPM's off Visakhapatnam, Paradip and KG Basin. Audit of International Ship and Port Facility Security(ISPS) code was carried out by ports. On similar lines, all agencies concerned with maritime security assessed their own organisations to identify gaps and address them on priority, the Navy said.

To evaluate the coastal security mechanism, simulated infiltration from the sea by joint teams from security agencies, collectively called as Red Force, was attempted. These teams aimed to breach the multi-tier security barriers at sea, close to the land and in the hinterland. Simulated attacks were carried out on vital installations and assets by infiltrating through the sea, in Kerala and Lakshadweep.

The security agencies were able to thwart attempts by the opposing force to infiltrate onto the coast using commandeered fishing boats, the Navy said. Hijack/ hostage situation onboard merchant vessels operating off east coast was also simulated to check effectiveness of CMG (Crisis Management Group) and naval commandos.