US
Coast Guard Helps Launch Indian Ocean Port Safety Group
Nine
countries in the Indian Ocean region established and joined the South
Asia Regional Port Security Cooperative, a group to help counter terrorism
and criminal activity, with the assistance of the U.S. Coast Guard.
‘If crimes such as illegal fishing, human smuggling, and the transportation
of illegal cargoes and drugs cannot be collectively combated, then neither
can terrorism and piracy,’ said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Craig
E. Bone.
Creating the group lets terrorists and criminals in the South Asia and
Indian Ocean region know ‘that they will be detected, they will be
interdicted and their activities will not be tolerated’,’ said
Bone.
Poaching and smuggling of people and weapons have been on the rise in
the region. Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius,
Oman, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka belong to the group. The United States will
only act as the ‘facilitating country.’
