NEW YORK: New York police searched Monday for a Bangladeshi man believed to have jumped from a cargo ship traveling between France and the port of Newark, New Jersey. Another man who jumped with him was found early Monday and taken to a hospital. The men were part of the crew on the 797-foot (243-meter) ship, called Manhattan Bridge, that originated in France, police said.
Fishermen spotted one of the men on an island off the coast of Staten Island, which is New York's City's most southern borough, and the police harbor unit picked him up. "The other individual is still missing. They physically jumped off," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. The rescued man was taken to a hospital. His condition was not immediately known.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/17/america/NA-GEN-US-Ship-Jump.php
New Delhi - Giving a lie to Pak denials of its links with Northeast India 's insurgent groups, Sri Lankan navy seized a Panamanian registered vessel carrying Pak military supplies to ULFA.
The NE insurgent groups generally pick up their military hardware and weapons from the Chittagong port where these are dumped by the supplier. About a year ago, an arms dump was exposed in the Chittagong port area rather accidentally and the then pro-Pakistan BNP government did its damnest to over up the expose.
This time around, Pakistan and Bangladesh are not that lucky. Vigilant Sri Lankan Navy foiled the plans. Also seized a ship carrying a consignment of explosives from Pakistan Ordnance Factory (POF) which are for delivery at Chittagong area for the use of Indian Insurgent groups, according to delayed reports.
The ship MV MOL Admiration left Karachi on August 14, carrying nearly thirty tonnes of high-grade explosives and arrived in Colombo harbor on August 22. The ship's manifest listed the consignment as "Steel Helmets, Bullet Proof jackets and DMS Boots" but has no documents showing the end users. As the consignment is much heavier than the items declared, Srilanka Naval authorities boarded the ship and opened the consignment ignoring the objections of the Defence Attaché of the Pak High Commission in Colombo. He argued with the naval authorities that the material wad a diplomatic cargo for use of Bangladesh Ordinance Factory (BOF). And tried to exert diplomatic pressure.
To his dismay, Sri Lankan authorities sought confirmation from the Defence Attaché of Bangladesh High Commission. He denied any knowledge of the cargo being ordered by BOF and termed as forged the manifest declaring BOF as consignee. An embarrassed Pakistani High Commission and Pak ordinance factory POF officials wanted to wriggle out and sought release of the consignment. But Colombo refused to oblige them unless the BOF certifies that it is meant for them.
The Defence Attaché in Pakistani High Commission in Dhaka had put in the rescue act, to quote sources in Dhaka familiar with the episode. He approached the Bangladeshi authorities with a request to issue a certificate that the seized consignment was meant for their country. Initially, Dhaka demurred and tried to duck but finally yielded to pressure 'from a brotherly country', as a local media report said. The Bangladesh Ordinance Factory issued the necessary documentation and Colombo cleared the release for the consignment, which was ferried to Chittagong on a Chinese vessel, Yong Yue-8, on August 25.
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/7405
Taxi drivers linked to gangs (Norway)
Monday September 17 2007
A large number of Oslo taxi drivers already have been charged with tax evasion and welfare fraud. Now Oslo police suspect around 40 drivers and even more taxi owners of having close contact with Pakistani gangs, and operating as couriers of arms and drugs.
Excerpted
BOL - MISSING BANGLADESHI MAN
See Oorang’s post no. 1529.
A ship called Manhattan Bridge?
Whodathunk?
Thanks very much for the ping to this article.
More info here:
http://www.nysun.com/article/62825
Two Bangladeshi men working aboard a Panamanian cargo ship bound for Virginia apparently jumped into the New York Harbor yesterday morning, sparking a multiagency search and rescue mission for one of the men, police officials said.
The pair, Mohammad Nayem Uddin and Mohammad Bakhtier Uddin, were reported missing from the Manhattan Bridge, a 797-foot cargo ship, at about 6 a. m., after they failed to report for roll call as the ship steamed out of the Port of Newark, authorities said.
About an hour later, a recreational fisherman spotted Mohammad Nayem Uddin waving from Hoffman Island, a 10-acre bird sanctuary southwest of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and called the police.
Mr. Uddin was taken to Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn and treated for hypothermia before being questioned by police. Mr. Uddin allegedly was uncooperative when questioned by police about his relationship to Mohammad Bakhtier Uddin, whom investigators believe is his brother, police sources said. (excerpt)