RAJKOT/NEW DELHI: Three days after a suspected Pakistani terror boat sank after being intercepted off Porbandar coast, Pakistan’s Maritime Security Agency (MSA) reportedly “apprehended” two Indian fishing vessels with 12 fishermen on board amid escalating tensions along both the land and maritime boundaries between the two neighbours.According to reports from Gujarat, the two boats — Jhelelal and Jalaram — were seized by the MSA (Pakistan’s counterpart of the Indian Coast Guard ) from the notional international maritime boundary line (IMBL) off Jakhau coast on Saturday night.Fishermen association leader from Porbandar Manish Lodhari said they had received a message from the fishermen about the seizure by MSA.In Rajkot, an Indian Coast Guard official confirmed the abduction of Gujarati fishermen but said their identity was not yet established. He said, “We would need to get in touch with the fisheries department of the state government to establish their identities, which will now be possible only on Monday.”A Coast Guard vessel patrolling the southern coastline after maritime security has been tightened following the interception of a Pakistani "terror" boat off Gujarat coast. (TOI photo by K Antony Xavier)But in New Delhi, the maritime authorities said they had no immediate confirmation of the reported seizure of the two Indian fishing boats. “Seizure of each other’s boats is a normal practice since fishermen from both sides cross the IMBL for a better catch on a daily basis,” said an official.The fact, however, remains that defence minister Manohar Parrikar has been holding a series of meetings with Navy chief Admiral Robin Dhowan, Coast Guard director general Vice Admiral Anurag Thapliyal and other top officials over the last three days after the interception of “suspicious” Pakistani fishing boat, which sank in the early hours of January 1 around 365km from Porbandar just within India’s exclusive economic zone.The foreign office said it had not yet been intimated about the capture of the boats. It will have to wait for the Pakistan government to inform about the fishermen and their boats. This is a regular feature between India and Pakistan. Except that in the context of the past few days' events, Sunday's “abduction” acquires a sharper profile.An aerial photo of the "terror" boat that blew itself up after being intercepted by Indian Coast Guard off Gujarat coast.It’s being perceived as a possible ‘tit-for-tat’ action by an angry Pakistan, but no conclusions have been drawn yet as such abductions of straying fishing boats are routine.While the dots are yet to be fully connected in the January 1 incident, wireless intercepts have held that the intercepted Pakistani fishing boat, and another vessel which could not be traced, was in regular touch with a “contact” in Pakistan, who in turn was in communication with Pakistan Army, MSA and even someone in Thailand, as reported by TOI.Whether the four persons on board the intercepted trawler were actual terrorists or just smugglers is yet to be conclusively established but the Indian defence establishment is fully convinced that a nefarious conspiracy was afoot, which could have included a mid-sea transfer of arms and ammunition or even something akin to a possible repeat of the 26/11 terror strikes in Mumbai.Coast Guard vessels acted to intercept the Pakistani fishing boat, which began its journey from Keti Bandar near Karachi, based on specific inputs provided by the national technical agency NTRO that some “illicit transaction” was afoot on the high seas.Pakistan, however, has accused India of trying to tarnish its image by orchestrating the “drama”, maintaining that no boat from Karachi had gone to the open seas around that time. But India remains unconvinced amid continuing intelligence inputs about the terror threats emanating from the sea with the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and Vibrant Gujarat events slated to kick-off in Gujarat this week.A Coast Guard Dornier-228 plane on a surveillance sortie. (TOI file photo)In December 2014 alone, at least 58 fishermen from Gujarat were abducted and their 10 boats seized by PMSA.Earlier, more than 150 Indian fishermen with their boats were released when Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif visited New Delhi in May 2014 to attend the oath-taking ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Meanwhile, security has been beefed up along Saurashtra’s coast in the light of the recent terror boat incident. Maritime patrolling has also been intensified in the region.