The local police have issued an alert after a “suspicious” group of men in a boat were spotted off the coastline near Revdanda in Raigad district, nearly 100 km from the city.The incident comes close on the heels of two students reported seeing up to half a dozen masked, armed men with backpacks at Uran on September 22. The sighting, coming four days after the Uri army camp attack, witnessed the Navy, which has an armament depot and commando base at Uran, issuing its highest alert and searching its camp inch by inch. According to a Raigad police source, on Friday morning, a group of fishermen from Alibaug ventured into the sea in a boat. The fishermen were intercepted by a group of 4-5 men in a trawler. “The men came close to their boat and asked them for directions to Mumbai. The fishermen claimed that the men were not fisherfolk and spoke in a Kutchi-Gujarati accent,” the source added. Considering the recent situation in Uran, the fishermen immediately reached the shore and informed the Dadari coastal police about the incident. A wireless message was immediately sent out. At the same time, an alert was issued along the Raigad coastal belt of 122 km from Dadari coast till Shrivardhan.Raigad police superintendent Mohammad Suvez Haq said, “I can neither confirm nor deny the incident. Since the Uran inputs of terrorist sightings, we cannot ignore any tip-off related to suspicious activity. Security has been beefed up in Raigad district, including the coastal belt.” The Customs had spotted a “suspicious” boat near Mora, Raigad, on September 6. When officials seized it a day later, they found that its occupants had escaped.
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