If you are wondering why a massive, multi-agency search mounted last week by the Navy, Coast Guard, NSG and Maharashtra ATS for "a group of suspicious men dressed in black and heard mentioning 'school' and 'ONGC'" near the Uran Naval base in Navi Mumbai, failed to yield anything, it is because their "spotting" was figment of a 12-year-old's fertile imagination. The schoolgirl had first reported the "presence of 4-5 Pathani suit-clad men speaking in a different language and carrying what looked like weapons" in Uran, sending the security establishment into a tizzy just four days after the Uri attack left 18 Army personnel dead.

However, in a second round of questioning two days after Uran was put on high alert and a massive search operation covering land, air and sea failed to trace the suspects, the girl conceded that she had earlier seen pictures of Islamic State terrorists wearing black clothes and flashing automatic weapons, which prompted her to spread the word that she had spotted them in Uran "for some thrill".

Though the agencies were clearly exasperated at the girl's confession, she was let off with a light warning and a piece of counselling about the consequences of such "pranks".