The Centre on Monday issued an alert to Gujarat and Maharashtra after two boats were reportedly sighted sailing off the coast of Karachi towards India, according to dna. Intelligence agencies are believed to have shared the coordinates of the vessels with the state governments, and the Multi-Agency Centre, which shares inputs related to terrorism, has issued a high alert for the coastal states.

This comes only a day after a Pakistani boat was intercepted with nine crew members off the coast of Gujarat. Investigators said those found on board the vessel were fishermen. They were taken to Porbandar for further questioning.

The Coast Guard had said on Friday that sensitive sea territories of Gujarat had been been "sanitised". They had also said that security in the region has been heightened since the Indian Army announced the surgical strikes they carried out along the Line of Control with Pakistan on September 29. Islamabad has denied New Delhi's claim and said India was trying to rebrand commonplace cross-border firing as surgical strikes to create media hype.

Ties between India and Pakistan have deteriorated since the September 18 attack on the Indian Army base in Kashmir's Uri sector While India has accused Islamabad of harbouring terrorists who planned the strike, Pakistan has dismissed the claims and called them baseless.