Kolkata: The crew of the China-bound cargo
plane of the UAE Air Force, which was detained here after
being found carrying a large cache of arms and ammunition, had
first refused customs authorities from entering the aircraft
and conducting manual inspection.
"The crew at first had stopped the Customs team from
entering the aircraft for manual inspection. It was then
communicated that as per the country's law, the customs
authorities had to check any aircraft which lands in the
country," official sources said today.
Reluctantly, the crew later allowed inspection which led
to the discovery of "large" cache of arms and ammunition, they
said.
The C-130 plane was on its way to Hanyang in China from
Abu Dhabi and had landed at the NSC Bose International airport
to refuel around 5.30 PM yesterday.
The 10 crew members were taken to a nearby hotel and
questioned by the customs officials who along with immigration
officials found the plane carrying "arms and ammunition"
during a routine check, Wg Cdr Mahesh Upasani, Eastern Air
Command spokesman said.
The crew members did not inform in the routine
declaration submitted to authorities that arms and ammunition
were in the plane, which, however, had the required civil and
military clearance for transit through Kolkata, Upasani said.
The particular column in the proforma was left blank, he
added.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, September 07, 2009, 23:18