JNPT on high alert after terror threat

A major terror threat has put Mumbai's sensitive Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust at Nhava Sheva on high alert last evening.

An Intelligence Bureau report indicates that a group of Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists plan to blow up the customs office at Nhava Sheva, barely 100 metres from the highly sensitive petroleum storage tanks. A customs superintendent with JNPT confirmed that security measures at the port have been reviewed. A senior Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officer said security measures had been upped.

Senior customs officers yesterday called an emergency meeting of all petroleum storage tank owners and asked them to beef up security measures. Customs have also stopped the entry of all private cars to the restricted area. All clearing and forwarding agents have been forbidden from entering the port zone, a superintendent added, requesting anonymity.

The threat assumes significance in light of the fact that the Pakistani Navy has trained a large number of volunteers as marine commandos, capable of carrying out strikes, sources informed. A missile attack could cause large-scale destruction in the three square kilometer port area, customs sources pointed out.

JNPT is considered as one of the major ports in the country. The state-owned oil major Oil and Natural Gas Corporation too has its base in Nhava Sheva. The police have also thrown a major security cover around Butcher Island, which is two nautical miles from JNPT.