Tri-nation naval excercise held to curb narcotics smuggling

Indian, Sri Lankan Navies and Maldives National Defence Force took part in the event

A tri-nation table top anti-narcotics and maritime search and rescue exercise, ‘Exercise Shield’, was held between Indian and Sri Lankan Navies and Maldives National Defence Force to share best practices and fine-tune procedures amid growing instances of narcotics smuggling in the region. “The exercise was focused at enhancing maritime security cooperation and mutual understanding, exchange of best practices, procedures for countering common trans-national maritime crimes such as narcotics smuggling, evolving modalities for exchanging information, intelligence and to assist each other in maritime search and rescue,” a Navy statement said. The table top exercise and simulation was held virtually on July 14 and 15 with the Indian Navy’s Western Naval Command as the lead agency.