During the past week, two news reports have generated quite an interest and intrigue. One was from New Delhi and the other from Mumbai, but coincidentally, both are linked to one major incident which happened in Mumbai more than 13 years ago.
In one of the most audacious terror attacks anywhere in the world, 10 Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorists attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008. The attack, which lasted for 60 hours, resulted in the death of 175 people and injured more than 300. After the attack, the Ram Pradhan Committee was set up to find out why the attack wasn’t averted and how to ensure such an incident is not repeated.
The committee thoroughly examined and studied the attacks and gave its report. During its investigations the committee found that the communication between the Centre, the state and various investigative agencies had completely broken down, leading to utter chaos.
The fact that those ten terrorists, including Ajmal Kasab, came from Pakistan in a boat and hijacked an Indian fishing trawler ‘Kuber’ in Indian waters, then sailed towards Mumbai. On reaching four nautical miles from Mumbai, they abandoned the trawler and inflated a rubber dinghy attached a motor to it and sped towards Mumbai. The terrorists landed near the fishermen’s colony opposite Badhwar Park in Cuffe Parade, and entered the city, was seen as a failure of all agencies including the Navy, the Coast Guard, the Mumbai Police, and others who had the duty to protect our seas and the coastline.
The government in 2009 decided to establish and appoint the National Maritime Security Coordinator (NMSC) to ensure better coordination and cooperation among all Central and state agencies involved in security of our seas and our country’s humongous coastline. India has a coastline of 7,516 kilometers and around two million square km of exclusive economic zone.
After more than 13 years of delay, the government finally appointed India’s first NMSC last week. Even though hugely delayed, it is still a welcome move. It will ensure that all the agencies who have a crucial task of protecting our seas and coastline no longer work in silos and there is better coordination and clear communication among them.
The onus will now be on the newly appointed NMSC to establish a structure that ensures smooth flow of communication, intelligence, information and coordination between the Navy, Coast Guard, and all state agencies.
VULNERABLE COASTLINE
The question that instantly comes to mind is that the NMSC, which was supposed to be formed immediately after the 26/11 terror attacks to ensure that such an act is not repeated or any such attempt to attack India using the sea route is thwarted, how would it be relevant 13 years after 26/11, and the fact that such an attack has not happened in the country?
It is true that a 26/11 type attack has not happened anywhere in the country, but it is also true that our coastline is still porous and vulnerable to violation. Therefore, the need for a concerted effort from all our agencies is still very much needed. Having a dedicated body to help strengthen our porous sea borders is a positive step.
Another important suggestion given by the Ram Pradhan Committee from the security point of view was to cover Mumbai with CCTV cameras for better surveillance and response during a terror attack. These CCTV cameras would also be useful to prevent crimes, law and order situations, monitoring during natural disasters and other emergency situations.
A suggestion given by the committee was that the entire city should be covered in a dragnet of CCTV cameras, but so far, only 5,000 of them have been installed at various places. Other proposal was submitted during 2009 by me as Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, and it took seven years for the government to install these 5,000 cameras.
Given the size and demography of Mumbai, that number is miniscule. And as per news reports in the last week, the second phase (installing another 5,000 CCTV cameras) is about to be implemented.
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE?
Even though this is a welcome piece of information, one wonders if it is a case of too little too late. If one were to bear in mind that these CCTV cameras were to be installed in the aftermath of 26/11 terror attacks, then they are late by 13 years. And a lot has changed in these 13 years. Specially as far as terror attacks are concerned, nature of these attacks has changed, and they are equally or even more dangerous.
Crime, terror, espionage have all gone faceless now. Crimes and terror attacks are being conducted by unknown and faceless criminals from one part of the world to another. Anti-social elements are using the anonymity provided by the internet and darknet to conduct their illegal operations. Post 2010, the world has witnessed an exponential change in the way terror attacks have been conducted. Closer home, the power outage in Mumbai in 2020 is largely believed to have been done by Chinese hackers. If true, then it clearly was a terror attack. Leon Panetta, Defence Secretary of the United States in 2012, had famously said the world has to prepare for a kind of ‘Cyber Pearl Harbour’. We are witnessing such attacks every now and then across the world.
THREE STEPS AHEAD
It is amply clear that cyber criminals are always three steps ahead of the investigators. They also have the shield of anonymity and the faceless world of the internet which helps them and emboldens them. Even in Mumbai, as per the latest statistics, conviction rate in cyber crime cases is a mere 4%. A total of 2883 cyber crime cases were registered in Mumbai in 2021, only 48 cases have been detected so far. There are several aspects to these abysmal figures, as the police have to deal with faceless criminals who are almost always either in a foreign country or in a remote village in some remote corner of the country making it near impossible to reach them. While these criminals have access to the latest technology and equipment, the police still do not have that access, nor the requisite training.
Given these circumstances, it is surely heartening to know that the next batch of 5,000 CCTV cameras are going to be soon installed in various parts of Mumbai. Even though this is a good sign, a lot more needs to be done. Mumbai needs a huge number of such CCTVs to be installed everywhere. And that is just a part of its fight against cyber crimes.
As of December 2021, Delhi had more than 2.75 lakh CCTV cameras all over. This figure is significantly higher than London, Paris, New York, Shanghai and even Singapore. It has achieved the distinction of becoming the number one city in the world in having the maximum number of CCTV cameras per square km.
As per reports, Delhi has as many as 1,826 cameras per square mile, while London has 1,138 CCTV cameras per square mile. And plans are already afloat to install 1.40 lakh more CCTV cameras in Delhi in the second phase. It means Delhi will have as many as 4.15 lakh CCTV cameras installed by the end of the second phase.
Delhi did it in a span of seven years, while Mumbai is still struggling at 5,000 (and another 5,000 coming up in the second phase) over a span of 14 years. Majority of crimes and criminals have now gone online, be it economic offences, terror attacks, phishing, ransomware, hacking, etc. If Mumbai has to retain its position as India’s financial capital, safest city for women and children, a city of dreams, et all, it will have to drastically increase its strength to deal with all kinds of cyber offences and online frauds.
There is a high probability that the next terror attack or war may not be fought on land or sea or air but will be a cyber war, and we need to be ready for it.
The writer is the Director General of Police (DGP) (Retired), Maharashtra, and former Police Commissioner of Mumbai .He is also an award-winning author.
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Published on: Monday, February 21, 2022, 09:39 AM IST
Source: https://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/mumbai-needs-to-upgrade-now
