PANJIM: The terror alert sounded in the State last week has exposed chinks in the system set in place to counter terrorist activities post 26/11 as the State Multi Agency Centre was not taken into confidence.
Last Friday the District Coast Guard issued intelligence inputs that anti-national elements were likely to land on the Indian coast and attack vital installations. However, reliable government sources confirmed that some of them are not in receipt of the ‘threat input’ even 72 hours after the notice was issued.
“Coast Guard is the nodal agency and there are systems/structure in place wherein all concerned agencies come on board and coordinate. In every State, multi agency centres have been constituted following the 26/11 Mumbai attack to discuss such threat inputs, check its reliability, etc. In Goa, the SMAC did not meet over the present threat input,” an officer from the intelligence agency said.
Sources explained that after the high-level meeting by the SMAC, an alert is issued. “Formal structures are in place and moreover, there is grading of the (threat) input. It should not be issued in a way that creates unnecessary panic as we saw in Goa in the last 2-3 days. The input was shared (to local stakeholders) like a normal procedure,” the official explained.
It is also learnt that the Indian Navy, which is the first respondent followed by Coast Guard and Marine Police, was reportedly also not aware of the input. An official from the local security agency stated, “It is a lesson to be learnt to avoid a goof up in future.”
Herald has also learnt that the State government is likely to investigate on how the noting was leaked and went viral on social media. Goa Police, if called for the meeting, has assured to ‘assist the government’ while reiterating the input has not been shared with them.
A day after Captain of Ports asked casinos, barges, water sports and cruise vessels operators to remain alert in view of the intelligence input from the district coast guard, Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma and Goa Police were ignorant of the development. Although Sharma clarified the alert was general and not specific to Goa, it raised questions about the communication gap between the security agencies and government departments.
