Indian coastguard praises Maldivian coastguard

The Maldives coastguard are highly capable but lack modern technology, one of the heads of the Indian coastguard has said, Miadhu reports.

Mr Gopi is in the Maldives to attend an inauguration ceremony of the 10th Indo-Maldivian joint coastguard training exercise which began yesterday.

He said that he had spent many years observing the Maldives National Defence Force and the coastguard, both of which had come a long way in the fields of education and training.

But, he added, the benefit of both could only be seen if officers had access to modern technologies.

Coastguard commandant Brigadier General Zakariyya Mansoor said the Maldives’ inability to conduct aerial surveillance of the country’s territorial waters was a further obstacle to the development of the coastguard.