Speed-boat 'scare': Maha ATS files FIR against unknown persons

Mumbai, Aug 19 (IANS) After probing the drifted 'speed-boat scare' on Raigad shores, the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) has filed a complaint against unknown persons, officials said here on Friday.

ATS chief Vineet Agarwal, who rushed to Raigad along with his team, and the Raigad Police have investigated the matter, and a possible terror angle has been discounted for the present.

On Thursday, the state security apparatus went into a tizzy after the severely damaged yacht washed up on Harihareshwar beach, around 200 km south of Mumbai, as the fisherfolk alerted the local authorities.

The UK-flagged 53-feet-long yacht 'MY Lady Han', owned by an Australian couple, was found with some documents, three AK-47 rifles and boxes containing live ammunition, sparking a major security scare in the state.

The Navi Mumbai ATS Unit is handing the probe and has filed a first information report invoking various sections of the Arms Act against unknown persons.

Later, a Dubai-based Neptune P2P Group announced that it had provided security to the yacht in June 2022.

The Maharashtra government informed the legislature that the speedboat suffered an engine failure in the high seas on June 26 and the crew on board were rescued by a Korean warship.

Later, after drifting in the Arabian Sea for 52 days, it finally washed up on Harihareshwar Beach on Thursday afternoon.

The Neptune P2P Group said that after the yacht was damaged during monsoon, an emergency was declared, the crew members were rescued though they could not salvage the vessel owing to extreme weather conditions.

The yacht was slated to sail from Oman to Europe with its owner Hannah Laundergun and her husband James Robert sailing it, along with at least one unidentified crew member, when the mishap took place.

The security provider said it had presumed the vessel to have sunk but after it was found on Raigad shores, the Neptune P2P Group is coordinating with the vessel owners, and the authorities in India and United Kingdom for the official recovery procedures of the vessel and the 'controlled items' (weapons) on board.