KOLKATA: What is the mysterious weapons cargo in the China-bound UAE Air ForceÂ’s C-130 Hercules aircraft detained at Kolkata airport since Sunday?
Defence and intelligence sleuths say it could be a sophisticated US-made weapons system, which explains the unconcealed concern of the Indian authorities and the silence on the part of the UAE government.
UAE authorities applied to the Indian government to get the plane released on Wednesday evening — nearly 72 hours after it was detained. The plane has been given a take-off slot of 9.30am on Thursday for China’s Xiangyang.
Sources confirmed that the three mysterious boxes in the aircraft contain ‘‘combat missiles’’ but were mum on the details. Defence and intelligence sleuths, probing the case, don’t rule out the possibility of the deadly US-made Harpoon missiles being channelized to China from UAE and Egypt.
If what Indian investigators suspect is true, the unauthorized proliferation could lead to regional imbalances and trigger a crisis. ‘‘This is serious. Already, there are reports of Pakistan having modified Harpoon missiles to strike land targets in India,’’ an analyst pointed out. |