Kolkata:
The Aegean Glory, detained at Diamond Harbour near Kolkata on Friday, had rocket launchers, anti-aircraft guns and explosives - all dangerous cargo that was headed for Karachi.
When port officials boarded the ship for a routine check, they were in for a shock.
When questioned, the captain declared that he had armaments for the Pakistan Army, but the calling agent in Kolkata declared that the cargo was for the Nepal Army and was to be offloaded at Kolkata and sent to Kathmandu by road.
"The consignment which is on board is meant for one Major Khaliqullah Khan Karachi Pakistan, and that contains dangerous cargo. This was the cargo that was not declared by the agent," said West Bengal DGP, Bhupinder Singh.
Some of the initial suspicions have been allayed by the fact that the shipper of the arms - not just to Pakistan and Nepal but to Bangladesh as well - is the United Nations (UN) mission in Liberia. The ship was also chartered by the UN.
"Now from the examination of the cargo manifest, it seems it was part of the de-induction process, which means the equipment sent there by respective countries was to be returned back to them," said Singh.
Intelligence agencies have been asked to confirm the UN connection. But the Customs Department is bringing the ship to Kolkata to search it container by container before letting it go. It wants to be certain that the failure to declare the arms cargo for Pakistan was an inadvertent blunder and not an intentional slip.
When port officials boarded the ship for a routine check, they were in for a shock.
When questioned, the captain declared that he had armaments for the Pakistan Army, but the calling agent in Kolkata declared that the cargo was for the Nepal Army and was to be offloaded at Kolkata and sent to Kathmandu by road.
"The consignment which is on board is meant for one Major Khaliqullah Khan Karachi Pakistan, and that contains dangerous cargo. This was the cargo that was not declared by the agent," said West Bengal DGP, Bhupinder Singh.
Some of the initial suspicions have been allayed by the fact that the shipper of the arms - not just to Pakistan and Nepal but to Bangladesh as well - is the United Nations (UN) mission in Liberia. The ship was also chartered by the UN.
"Now from the examination of the cargo manifest, it seems it was part of the de-induction process, which means the equipment sent there by respective countries was to be returned back to them," said Singh.
Intelligence agencies have been asked to confirm the UN connection. But the Customs Department is bringing the ship to Kolkata to search it container by container before letting it go. It wants to be certain that the failure to declare the arms cargo for Pakistan was an inadvertent blunder and not an intentional slip.
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