Seized ship was carrying arms from UN mission in Liberia

Six coastal police stations have been put on high alert and the ship agent has been detained.

Primary investigations revealed that the military equipment was sent to the UN mission at Liberia from Nepal,Bangladesh and Pakistan. After the requirement at Liberia was fulfilled,the remaining equipment was to be returned to the respective countries they were brought from.

The ship set off from the Monrovia Port of Liberia on May 17. After halting at Fort St Louis of Mauritius for refuelling,it reached Chittagong,in Bangladesh,on June 15,where the relevant consignments were offloaded.

The Nepal Army consignment was supposed to be offloaded at Kolkata Port yesterday. But problems arose when the clearing agent suppressed some documents. The agent who was required to show the declarations pertaining to all the three countries at every halt produced only the declaration relevant to Nepal.

“There were some irregularities in the process in which the ship entered the Indian coast. All the documents will be thoroughly checked after the ship is brought to the Kolkata Port. It is likely that it will be brought to the Kolkata Port tomorrow,” said Surajit Kar Purakayastha,IG (Law and Order).

“Since the ship was carrying dangerous cargo,there should have been relevant declarations. The ship will soon be brought to Kolkata,where officials from the Customs department and police would examine the consignments and the documents,” said Bhupinder Singh,Director General of Police.

On Saturday,officials from the Customs department as well as from the River Traffic Control Police,West Bengal State Police and the Coast Guards checked the ship’s consignments. While the captain of the ship is a Greek national,the 20-member crew includes those from Ukraine,Romania and Greece.

The Ministry of External Affairs is corroborating the documents with the Movement Control Office of the United Nation Peace Keeping Mission at New York for further verification.