In a stern warning, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said it will find those responsible for attacking merchant navy ships off the Gujarat coast in the Indian Ocean.
His comments came at the commissioning event of INS Imphal in Mumbai. “Nowadays the turbulence in the sea has increased a lot. The government has taken the drone attack on MV Chem Pluto in the Arabian Sea, and on MV Sai Baba in the Red Sea, very seriously,” Singh said.
आजकल समंदर में हलचल कुछ ज़्यादा ही बढ़ गई है। भारत की बढ़ती आर्थिक और सामरिक ताक़त ने कुछ ताक़तों को ईर्ष्या और द्वेष से भर दिया है। अरब सागर में हाल में हुए ‘एमवी केम प्लूटो’ पर ड्रोन हमले और कुछ दिन पहले लाल सागर में ‘एमवी साई बाबा’ पर हुए हमले को भारत सरकार ने बहुत गंभीरता से…
— रक्षा मंत्री कार्यालय/ RMO India (@DefenceMinIndia) December 26, 2023
The defence minister added that the Indian Navy has increased surveillance in the sea, emphasising that the government will find the culprits “even from the depths of the ocean.”
Earlier this week, the Pentagon claimed that the suspected drone attack that hit Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned and Netherlands-operated Chem Pluto tanker 200 nautical miles off the Indian coast was fired from Iran.
Notably, over 20 Indians were on board Chem Pluto, a chemical tanker ship.
However, Iran has rejected such ‘baseless’ claims, slamming the US for its role in the Israel-Hamas war.
An Indian-flagged crude oil tanker was similarly attacked in the Red Sea by a drone fired by Iran-backed Houthi terrorists. However, no injuries were reported in the Gabon-owned MV Saibaba.
The recent attacks are part of a series of strikes launched by the Houthi terror group in response to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Meanwhile, Chem Pluto has now been cleared for future operations but will undergo mandatory checkups before transfer of cargo, a naval officer said.
On Tuesday, the Indian Navy commissioned its latest warship INS Imphal, named after Manipur’s capital.
The stealth-guided missile was launched from Mumbai’s Naval Dockyard in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar.
