In a swift and planned operation on 16 Nov 1999 the Indian Coast Guard and Navy carried out an unprecedented feat of successfully capturing a pirated ship MV Alondra Rainbow hijacked from South China Sea.

    On 22 Oct, 1999 the Japanese owned tanker, Alondra Rainbow, with a crew of 15 Filipinos and 2 Japanese, carrying a cargo of 7000 tonnes of aluminium ingots sailed from the port of Kuala Tanjong in Indonesia.  The ship was bound for Miike in Japan.  En route, the ship was attacked and forcibly boarded by masked pirates armed with fire arms.  The crew were blind folded and cast adrift on an open life raft left to the mercy of elements.  By sheer providence, these men were picked up, after eleven gruelling days at sea by a Thai fishing vessel and taken to Phuket.

The Piracy Reporting Centre(PRC), Kuala Lumpur flashed a message on 27 Oct 1999 regarding the missing vessel, suspected to be a victim of piracy.  The Coast Guard Headquarters, anticipating the vessel’s likely transit route through Indian Ocean, alerted the various CG commands and units to increase vigil for the vessel.  It was also suspected that the vessel would have changed its colour, name and flag and hence units were to be prepared for the changed identity.  (In fact, the vessel when apprehended later had a changed name of Mega Rama, flying the Belize flag and a total colour transformation.)

On 13 Nov 1999, the Piracy Reporting Centre, reported sighting by a ship MV Al Shuhada of a vessel of similar description to Alondra Rainbow, 66 miles South West of Cape Comorin doing a North Westerly Course.  Indian Coast Guard Ship Tarabai was promptly deployed from Kochi and a surveillance aircraft sortie launched from Coast Guard Air Station Daman.  ICGS Tarabai located the suspect vessel on the night of 14 Nov 1999.  On being challenged by the ICG ship and despite several warnings to stop, the suspect vessel ignored the calls, and altered course seawards and increased speed. 

By day break of 15 Nov 1999 more ICG assets were fast closing on the scene of action.  ICG Dornier was overhead the suspect at 0630 hrs on 15 Nov.  In day light, visual inspection further confirmed the suspect’s resemblance to Alondra Rainbow. Further warning shots evoked a radio response from the vessel, claiming that she was Mega Rama with Indonesian crew headed for Port Fujira and would not stop as she had to make timely ETA at next Port.  Prompt verification was sought from appropriate authorities and it was established that particulars given by the ship was fake.  By 16 Nov 1999, more surface forces, ICGS Veera and Annie Besant and a Naval Warship INS Prahar closed in on the fleeing vessel which was eventually forced to stop after INS Prahar engaged the ship with her armament.  A Coast Guard Boarding team then embarked the ship to check the documents,  cargo and identity of the men on board.  The identity of the vessel being MV Alondra Rainbow was established beyond doubt.  A fire on board was extinguished by the boarding team.  There was also an attempt to scuttle the ship as the team noticed substantial water ingress in the Engine Room possibly due to opening of Sea Chest valves and this situation needed to be rectified expeditiously.  INS Gomati and INS Delhi provided assistance for Deflooding and Damage Control.  Naval Divers carried out under water repairs on the ship.  The ship’s condition was made stable and thereafter ICGS Veera took the ship under tow and proceeded for Mumbai port where she arrived with her catch on 21 Nov 1999 and handed over the vessel along with the arrested personnel to the Shore Authorities.

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The Indian Coast Guard and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in a joint operation, have for the first time intercepted a foreign oil tanker off the Mumbai coast, thereby blowing the lid off mid-sea smuggling of high-speed diesel (HSD) on 21 Dec 2004.

The oil tanker Al-Shahaba, owned by Oman-based Company M/s Al Majali International, was carrying 770 metric tones of HSD approximately and was anchored 15 nautical miles off Mumbai coast. “The HSD was being smuggled in small barges, when ICGS Vijaya, with DRI officials on board, apprehended the oil tanker and the barges.This activity was co-ordinated by Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre, Mumbai.