Kolkata: The captain of the Karachi-bound
ship, laden with military hardware, ammunition and explosives,
was on Saturday questioned after the papers provided by him were not
in order and officials said the vessel is being brought to the
Kolkata Port for scrutiny.
"Papers and documents furnished by the captain of the
ship, Aegean Glory Kingstown, to police and customs teams were
inconsistent," Director General of Police(DGP) Bhupinder Singh
told reporters here.
"Customs have now decided to completely rummage the
ship. This could mean opening of all the containers and
verifying the contents..for this purpose, they will be
bringing the ship to the Kolkata Port," he said.
The Karachi-bound cargo vessel from Bangladesh with
military hardware and explosives was yesterday detained by the
police at Diamond Harbour in West Bengal`s South 24 Parganas
district.
The police, Coast Guard and Customs have cordoned off
the Liberian registered ship S G Zyat sailing from Chittagong
in Bangladesh.
The Navy and Coast Guard personnel after boarding the
153-metre ship yesterday found a huge quantity of explosives,
rocket launchers, anti-aircraft guns and smoke bombs in two
large containers.
"Details of the consignment were not given in the
list furnished to us and further searches will be made in the
arms-laden ship," Singh said.
The captain was deboarded and taken for questioning at
Radisson Fort, police said.
DIG (CID) Anuj Sharma, South 24 Parganas SP L N Meena
and customs officials visited the vessel anchored at Diamond
Harbour on a hovercraft. No boat was allowed near it.
Describing the incident as "alarming", they said "it`s
surprising why the Pakistani-bound vessel was passing through
Indian waters."
Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) S
Karpurakayastha said "the ship was detained on an intelligence
tipoff.
PTI
