Indians seize MV Seaman Guard Ohio

[AdamG]

The American ship, detained by Coast Guard for carrying arms and ammunition off Tamil Nadu coast, may escape action if it is established that the vessel was cruising beyond Indian territorial waters, a top official said today.

"You have to understand that our territorial waters extend upto 12 nautical miles. Anything that happens beyond that is not within the realm of our control," Deputy National Security Advisor Nehchal Sandhu told reporters on the sidelines of function in New Delhi.

"So, if there is a ship beyond that and doing whatever it is doing, then what can anybody do in terms of law. You cannot concoct law," he said.

The vessel, MV Seaman Guard Ohio, whose crew included eight Indians, was intercepted and detained by the Indian Coast Guard east of Tuticorin on Saturday.

An FIR has been registered against 10 crew members and 25 guards of the detained ship by the Tamil Nadu Marine Police for illegally carrying arms and ammunition.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-...0.aspx?hts0021

[jcustis]

The Seaman Guard Ohio is operated by AdvanFort, a private counter-piracy security company. the private security and maritime aspect interested me, so I spent a bit of time browsing the corporate webiste and by all appearances, it is a tight, professional outfit.

Its press release of the incident thanked Indian officials for allowing the ship to shelter in port and avoid the recent Typhoon.

Given the stated mission of the ship, somebody needs to employ commonsense and get it back on its way.

[davidbfpo]

In the Private Military Companies area we have IIRC long ago discussed their maritime role, invariably against Somali pirates and it has regularly featured in the Somalia piracy thread.

The location is interesting too, in the straits between India and Sri Lanka:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoothukudi

Somali pirates are known to have been active off India's western coast.

[jcustis]

Absolutely David, and the head of AdvanFort said in an interview that the effectiveness of counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden, as well as Somali success with motherships, has resulted in a broader area of operations for the pirates.

They've pushed so far east that the boundary for insurance premium payments has shifted right along their AOs.

[carl]

I wonder if AdvanFort stepped on some official toes or didn't pay the right person or didn't pay enough.

[davidbfpo]

I wonder if AdvanFort stepped on some official toes or didn't pay the right person or didn't pay enough.

Carl,

I fear the imperial legacy for India is not corruption, rather bureaucracy. There is probably some national level understanding of the problems posed by PMC maritime operations, which has not migrated too far down India labyrinth civil-military structures - so the Coast Guard did what their duty required.

JCustis posted (in part):

Its press release of the incident thanked Indian officials for allowing the ship to shelter in port and avoid the recent Typhoon.

AdamG cited an Indian news report:

The American ship, detained by Coast Guard for carrying arms and ammunition off Tamil Nadu coast, may escape action if it is established that the vessel was cruising beyond Indian territorial waters, a top official said today.

I am sure this happens elsewhere, heaven forbid the USCG would do such a thing.