Police and security agencies held a detailed inspection of a fishing trawler found abandoned in the sea near Valsad on Thursday. It had created a sort of fear among people in the coastal villages, but police claimed that there was nothing suspicious about the trawler.
The trawler, identified as ‘Al-Azhar One’, is a licensed fishing trawler registered in the Republic of Yemen. The trawler was found near Hingraj village.
“Fishermen on board the boat were rescued by the Indian Coast Guard earlier during a recent cyclone near Mumbai. The boat was abandoned then and somehow it reached the Valsad coast,” said a police officer in Valsad.
The boat was checked by a bomb disposal squad. Nothing suspicious was found in the boat. There is a cooling chamber to store fish and fishing nets were found in the trawler.
“Police had information about the boat’s presence a day before and we had started taking necessary steps to verify its origin. After detailed inquiry, it became clear that there is nothing suspicious about it,” said Karanraj Vaghela, superintendent of police, Valsad.
Sources in nearby villages said that the trawler was pulled up to the shore by some fishermen when they went fishing. It was found around 14 nautical miles away from the shore and it was pulled up to the coast using another boat. It is yet not clear who brought the trawler close to the coast.
Police claimed that the trawler could have been swept up to the coast by wind