New Delhi, Aug 14: Pakistan missile programme suffered a delay when Indian Navy and coastguard warships intercepted a North Korean vessel outside the Kandla Port carrying missile manufacturing equipment, highly placed naval sources here said. The seizure of the vessel MV Kuwolsan was done in June 1999, at the height of the Kargil war, details of which are emerging only now. India promptly shared the information with US and other friendly governments, and officials said the seizure set off international alarm bells. Though the captain and crew of the vessel kept the customs at bay for days feigning that the ship was carrying only water treatment equipment, finally it was left to the navy and coastguard to board the vessel and stumble upon the complex missile equipment stored in crates inside.
"It was virtually a missile factory" officials said adding that what the naval officers found were tips of nose combs, sheet metal for rocket frames, guidance systems, reams of engineering drawings labelled Scud B and Scud C .

Though the Indian officials said that the intended recipient of the cargo was Pakistan, US officials who were brought into investigations subsequently believed that the cargo was intended for Libya.

For days, the Indian and western experts were foxed as the technical data was filled with unique kind of technical Jargoan invented by North Korean scientists to replace scientific terms in Russian and Chinese. Bureau Report