A high alert was sounded along the Mumbai coast and adjoining areas on Thursday after a group of men were spotted moving suspiciously near a naval base at Uran in Raigad district, leading to multi-agency search operations.

Late Thursday night, the police released a sketch of one of the suspects and circulated it among all the investigating agencies. The sketch was based on the description provided by the three school students who reportedly spotted the men near the naval base.

The quiet town was thrown out of gear after the military, Navy, anti terrorist squads (ATS) and local police intensified search operations to trace out the suspects. Choppers were pressed into action to conduct an aerial survey of the area.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis appealed to citizens not to panic and said all precautions were being taken and that massive combing operations were on.

With inputs from Amit Srivastava and Ateeq Shaikh.