The abandoned freighter, which has lodged itself about 50 metres from the shore, sidled up to the Mumbai coast after completing a vital mission for the Sri Lankan militant outfit, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), sources in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) reveal. Having left Colombo in Sri Lanka on June 30, the crew offloaded a consignment of either narcotics or Chinese-made pistols at Kerala or Karwar before abandoning the9,605-tonne vessel, which was then allowed to drift at sea.

Registered with a Singapore-based shipping company, the 20-year-old `M V Meng Kiat', is in fact a vital link in a dragnet being cast around the Mumbai harbour by agents of the LTTE, who have been stealthily building the coastal townships in Vasai taluka as a base in Mumbai. The mysterious and sudden arrival of the `M V Meng Kiat', sources reveal, confirms suspicions that the LTTE has stepped up efforts to establish a base in Mira-Bhayander due to Mumbai's proximity to the Gujarat coast. Sources say investigations hint that the ship may have been making trips between Colombo and Karachi on previous occasions as well. Details of the LTTE build-up here are contained in a confidential report currently being prepared by intelligence agencies on the LTTE's activities in India. The report mentions that LTTE agents from Tamil Nadu have been buying real estate in Mira-Bhayander to cement their contacts here.

Sources also say Pakistan's Inter-ServicesIntelligence (ISI) agency, which has been conducting militant operations on Indian soil, has been working in tandem with the LTTE to build a base in Mumbai. In fact, intelligence sources add, the `M V Meng Kiat' could have been chartered by agents acting as frontmen for the ISI.

Kinkship Management, agents for the `M T Sigri', which had towed the `M V Kiat' from Colombo to Mumbai, told Express Newsline that they had no knowledge of any clandestine activities. They merely confirmed that the tug had requested bunker fuel from the Coast Guard just before it was grounded as it was running low on fuel. The Coast Guard had, however, denied permission as it was not authorised to grant the request. The agents said they could not confirm the identity of the M V Kiat's owner, who had purchased the vessel before it was cast off for its final trip to Alang near Bhavnagar in Gujarat.

The Coast Guard, which says it is not aware of the `M V Meng Kiat's antecedents, had conducted an aerial survey on Thursday confirmingthat the ship is abandoned.

``The LTTE may have secretly owned the vessel all along and the consignment could be drugs or weapons,'' an intelligence officer told Express Newsline. Investigations thus far reveal that the ship was christened the `M V Sokoto, Folawiyo' in 1984, `Bello, General Urdaneter' and `Meng Hoing' before it was rechristened as the `M V Meng Kiat' in 1993.