Puri: Five ships of Indian Navy were sighted along the coastline of Odisha in Puri between Digabareni and Light House in front of the Blue Flag beach on Saturday morning.
According to sources, ships docked along the shore for a mock drill as part of preparations for the celebration of Navy Day in Puri on December 4 to commemorate the audacious attack carried out by the Indian Navy on Karachi harbour during the 1971 Indo-Pak War in which it sank two Pakistani ships under “Operation Trident”.
Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi has also landed in Puri to evaluate and discuss the necessary arrangements for the upcoming event with the district administration, the sources added.
The spotting of ships along the coast created murmurs as locals gathered to catch a glimpse of them, suspecting that these were part of the measures to check infiltration in light of the ongoing political instability in Bangladesh.
On Friday, the Naval chief had said that security along the Indian coast remains “strong” while visiting INS Chilka to attend the passing out parade of Agniveers.
Meanwhile, the Odisha government has stepped up vigil along its 480-km coastline in Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak and Balasore amid reports that many criminal elements, who have come out of jails during the unrest in Bangladesh, may try to sneak into India. Eighteen marine police stations have also been put on high alert.
The state is located about 200 km away from the Bangladesh coast.
In September 2022, Surya Kiran aerobatics team of the Indian Air Force (IAF) had conducted an air show over Bhubaneswar and Puri airspace.
