Pak objects to seizure of Karachi bound ship by India

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has objected to India seizing a Karachi bound ship which purportedly carried huge cache of arms and ammunition, saying the sea carrier was on duty of the UN Peacekeeping forces.

Foreign Office spokesperson Abdul Basit alleged that Islamabad has not been officially conveyed about the seizure of the cargo ship near Kolkata.

“The ship coming from Liberia carrying cargo was in the use of United Nations Peacekeeping Missions which has been stopped by India without any justification,” The News quoted Basit, as saying.

On Sunday, the ship called MV Aegean Glory was brought to the Kolkata port by the Coast Guard and the Calcutta Port Trust authorities.

The ship was earlier accosted beyond the River Hooghly’s sand banks off Diamond Harbour, about 50 kilometres south of Kolkata.

The ship had come under investigation, after security agencies raised an alarm when discrepancies were found in the cargo lists provided by the ship’s captain and the clearing agent.

The captain had revealed to Indian officials that the ship, en route to Pakistan, was carrying rocket launchers, sophisticated arms and ammunition and anti-aircraft guns for the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Liberia, while the clearing agent had not mentioned ‘military hardware’ as one of the goods on board in his cargo list.

Officials said that at least 19 crewmembers have been detained with regard to the case.

They added that the MV Aegean Glory was slated to unload the military cargo at different ports to return weapons of the nations that participated in the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). (ANI)