Karwar: ‘Sagar Kavach’, the two-day mock drill held to assess the preparedness of all agencies towards dealing with an asymmetric threat emanating from the sea, began on the coastline of Uttara Kannada district on Monday.

The exercise was designed after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks to prevent intrusions from the sea and its main objective is to provide a seamless seaward cover along the Karnataka coast and the security of State assets.

The exercise also assesses the effectiveness of the fishing community as ‘eyes and ears’ for early warning of seaward threats. 

The exercise has been jointly taken up by the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Coastal Security Police, Customs, Department of Police and other departments here.

Day-1

On Day-1 of the mock drill, the police caught 21 suspected people at Karwar and Gokarna. While the officers of the Coastal Security Police detained 18 people of the ‘Red Force’ who were on their way to the commercial port in the morning, two suspected persons were caught by the local police near the Kali bridge in the evening. Another person was caught in front of the Mahabaleshwar Temple at Gokarna.

As part of the drill, more policemen have been deployed at the commercial port, fishing port, railway station, DC office, navy instalments and other places. Vehicles plying on the main roads are being checked thoroughly. Check-posts have been set up at Kali bridge, Baithkhol, Arage, Mudaga and other places.

Red force, blue force

During the drill, the force was divided into two groups-Red Force and Blue Force. While the Red Force enacted the role of terrorists who infiltrate cities and towns from the coast, the Blue Force acted as enforcement agencies hunting down the terrorists.