TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Goa is safe. And the much-maligned police force got it right, at least this time. As part of the Sagar Kawach two-day exercise that began in the State on Tuesday, the police detected and defused two bombs planted by a ‘terrorist’ to blow up the State’s premier medical facility – the Goa Medical College and Hospital at Bambolim.
Police said that the bombs were defused by the police in a mock drill even though terrorists managed to plant them there.
Sagar Kawach is a regular exercise being conducted since 2009 to strengthen the coastal security of the State and involve all agencies, including police, Coast Guard and the Captain of Ports.
The comprehensive multi-agency coastal security exercise was last conducted in December 2014. It seeks to provide seamless seaward cover along the Goa coast jointly by all security agencies from the coastal belt to the limit of territorial waters – 12 nautical miles.
This time the exercise also sought to assess the effectiveness of the local fishing community as an extension of the intelligence, to function as ‘eyes and ears’ and serve an early warning of any seaward threat.
