The Indian Coast Guard has intercepted an illegal Thuraya satellite phone — often used in terror activities — from a ship with Panama flag off the east coast.
The ship, named Frontier Triumph, sailed from Singapore and used the illegal satellite phone twice in the Indian waters.
The Coast Gurad's regional headquarters in Kolkata picked up the transmissions originating from an unauthorised communication equipment off the shores of Bengal from within Indian waters.
Two vessels, ICGS Amogh and Sarojini Naidu, based at Paradip were diverted to investigate the illegal transmission.
The vessel was found anchored at the location. The investigation team discovered the banned Thuraya satellite communication set on board.
Usage of Thuraya phones is banned in Indian including the territorial waters as per the Indian Wireless Act and Indian Telegraph Act.
The master of the Panama based vessel Alajandro c Dango had not declared the presence of the Thuraya set in the Pre Arrival Notification System of the vessel, a mandatory declaration for all vessels that intend to enter Indian waters.
While the vessel has been detained at Dhamara port in Odisha, Dango and three other members of the crew, out of 23 crew members, were taken into police custody for investigation.