Posted on 09/07/2009 12:58:02 AM PDT by OldSpice
An aircraft belonging to the United Arab Emirates Air Force was found carrying a large cache of arms and ammunition and detained along with its nine crew members here last night. ( Watch Video )
The plane, bound for Hanyang in China from Abu Dhabi, landed at the NSC Bose International airport here for refuelling last night.
Airport sources said that while customary checking of the plane by customs officials it was found that a large cache of arms and ammunition were stockpiled inside the flight.
The airport authority of India was informed and as the plane's crew did not inform the authorities here that the aircraft was carrying arms, its return flight order was cancelled and nine crew members were detained.
Late in the night, a meeting was held with the airport authorities, customs officials, senior airforce officers and the UAE crew about the entire matter.
Finally, permission was granted to the plane to resume its flight this morning, sources said.
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bump.
with a planned refueling stop in Myanmar
UAE air force plane detained at Kolkata with arms, explosives
Kolkata, Sep 7 (IANS) A transport aircraft of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) air force that had landed at Kolkata airport for refuelling Sunday evening was detained for carrying arms and explosives without declaring them, an official spokesperson said here Monday.
The UAE air force plane (C130J) was flying from Abu Dhabi to Hanyang in China and had landed at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport here to refuel.
“It was a routine transit. They had applied for permission through the embassy and subsequently followed the necessary procedure by filling up an official form,” a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said.
“But in the official form they didn’t mention whether the aircraft was carrying any arms or explosives on board. They just left that particular column blank,” MoD spokesperson (Eastern Command) Wing Commander Mahesh Upasani told IANS.
He said: “When the customs officials from the airport boarded the aircraft to carry out a customary check they found a large cache of arms, ammunition and explosives inside, which was not mentioned in the form. They immediately informed the Airports Authority of India (AAI), police and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
“Later all nine crew members, including the captain, were detained and the aircraft was parked at one of the airport bays,” he said, adding that the customs officials did a “wonderful job” by detecting the arms and ammunition in the plane.
“The UAE air force personnel will be quizzed and the matter sorted out through both the embassies mutually,” he said.
Asked whether anyone can leave a particular column blank in the transit permission form, the spokesperson said: “No, they have to mention something. No one can leave a column just nil when applying for a routine transit.”
Ping.
Thread Bump and thank you for the ping Jet Jaguar.
Destined for the Uighur revolt ?
My question is: what was the origin of the weapons? I cannot see UAE as a net exporter of arms, they were clearly obtained from a third party. Why would China buy weapons from the UAE? Only to avoid a third country’s (USA?) export restrictions to China.
A potentially interesting story but not enough information was provided. Knowing what type arms and ammunition were aboard would be helpful in forming an opinion. China doesn’t need to import Egyptian made AK’s.
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