Mystery shrouds fishermens death

KOCHI: Could it be termed as an innocent coincidence? The killing of Justine, the fisherman who reportedly alerted the Neendakara Police of the Enrica Lexie incident on February 15, has raised many an eyebrow. The merchant vessel which went missing immediately after the event too signals a mysterious angle on the whole episode. It has been pointed out that two consecutive incidents off the same coast should not be termed as a mere coincidence.It was only a couple of years back that the Q Branch of the Tamil Nadu police seized a boat, being built for the LTTE, from a boat yard in Munambam. And it has been established that our fishermen can be bribed or fooled by agencies for getting things done.“During the regular Triton exercise, it has been established that some fishermen off the Kerala coast can be bribed for getting certain things done. During the coastal security exercise, the Red Force (which act as attacking forces and are tasked with hijacking fishing trawlers to infiltrate sleeper cells and launch attacks) were able to bribe and lure the fishermen, appearing in disguise. Once one of the Red Force team members faked sick and asked a fishing vessel to carry him to the shore. The fishermen readily agreed. They didn’t even try to verify who these people were,” said a top coastal security official. However, the officials maintained that a possible link between Enrica Lexie episode and Thursday’s incident would be a far-fetched imagination.“No way. These are all rumours. We can’t say that the collision is linked with the other incident. Even if there is any connection, that is purely coincidental,” said the officials.However, it has been pointed out that with a porous coastline and increasing threats on coastal security, the turn of events could be the indication of something serious. It’s a fact that unlike in Gujarat or Tamil Nadu, the Fisheries Department in Kerala does not have fish landing centre controls. They do not keep any specific data on the same. Here, there is no system for tracking fishermen who go to the sea, as well.Also there is no mechanism to know whether they are coming back to the same shore or all of them coming back or those coming back are the same ones who ventured into the sea, said sources.The officials in the Fisheries Department too admitted that the system was not foolproof. “We still don’t have any database on fishermen. With fishing vessels from various parts of the state and a lot of them from Tamil Nadu operating here, it’s absolutely difficult to maintain such a data,” said fisheries deputy director E G George Kutty.