A day after a North Korean ship was detained at Port Blair after it had anchored in suspicious circumstances off an Indian island, Navy Chief Sureesh Mehta said the vessel was carrying ‘genuine merchandise’ but had ‘no business’ to be present at the location.
The Bay of Bengal witnessed high drama on Friday when the Coast Guard intercepted the North Korean vessel MV Musan which had dropped anchor off Hut Bay in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The vessel did not respond to calls on the hailing frequency by a Dornier aircraft that had been scrambled by the Coast Guard and tried to turn away when an Indian warship approached it.
The vessel was then escorted to Port Blair and preliminary investigations say it is carrying a cargo of sugar to Iraq.
“The fact is that the ship had no business to be there. There were apprehensions (that it was carrying nuclear components). At the moment, it is carrying genuine merchandise,” Navy Chief said at the sidelines of the function to inaugurate the Armed Forces Tribunal. He said reports that the vessel had been forced to anchor near the Indian island due to mechanical faults were being looked into. |