BSF seizes Pakistan boat with nine on board

Bhuj/New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) The BSF on Wednesday seized a boat with nine Pakistanis on board in Sir Creek area adjoining Gujarat's Kutch district close to the Pakistan maritime border, officials said.

"A BSF patrol in Sir Creek area noticed a wooden boat fishing in Indian waters. Nine Pakistani men in the boat were challenged and caught," a Border Security Force (BSF) officer told IANS.

"The boat was apprehended at Chouhan Nala near G-43 pillar, at around 8 a.m.," the officer said in New Delhi.

The Pakistanis were being questioned, he said. "Other than fishing implements, nothing objectionable has been recovered," he added.

But "the possibility of these people spying for Pakistan can't be ruled out", said another officer in Bhuj in Gujarat.

The BSF on Tuesday had seized an empty boat belonging to the Pakistan Rangers after it drifted from across the border into the frontier district of Amritsar in Punjab,

The Coast Guard had on October 2 apprehended a Pakistani boat with nine crew off Porbandar in Gujarat.