Free If By Sea

December 10, 2008: The terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, last month made the government aware of how vulnerable they were to illegal, and largely undetected, landings at several dozen major, and nearly 200 minor, ports along the Indian coastline. Current regulations do not require ships of less than 15 tons (mostly fishing boats and pleasure craft) to register with local authorities when they make landfall. This did facilitate a certain amount of smuggling and illegal entry to, and exit from, the country, but was considered generally harmless. No longer. How much this will expand the government bureaucracy is still undetermined. But the era of easy passage in and out of India appears to have ended.