India detains Pakistan-bound ship carrying military hardware including rocket launchers

India detains Pakistan-bound ship carrying weapons

CALCUTTA, India — India detained a Pakistan-bound ship carrying undeclared military hardware, including rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns, police said Saturday.

The Panama-registered vessel MV Agean Glory sailed from Monrovia, Liberia, to Bangladesh via Mauritius. It then traveled to Calcutta, police said. The origin of the weapons was not immediately known.

The vessel offloaded civilian goods including a car in Calcutta, which also serves as a port for mountainous Nepal, top police official Bhupinder Singh told The Associated Press.

Authorities detained the ship on Friday after finding that the clearing agent did not specify that it was carrying weapons — the information given by the ship captain — Singh said.

Police were questioning the crew of the ship near Diamond Harbor in the Bay of Bengal, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Calcutta.

Other details were not immediately available.

In September, India briefly detained a United Arab Emirates air force plane after its crew failed to declare that it was carrying arms and ammunition to China.

The cargo was discovered during a routine check of the plane when it stopped in Calcutta for refueling.

The plane was allowed to leave for China after UAE authorities formally regretted not clearly indicating the items carried by the aircraft.