Officials of the Central and state The authorities inspected the cargo of MV Aegean Glory, which was stopped by security agencies in Kolkatta, in order to ascertain whether it matched with what had been loaded at the Liberian port of Monrovia. The vessel was brought into the Kolkata Dock System (KDS) on June 27 afternoon.
The captain claimed that the consignment, comprising anti-aircraft guns, rocket-launchers and smoke bombs, was meant to be delivered to Major K Khan of the Pakistani Army at the Karachi port, according to DGP Bhupinder Singh. But he could not produce matching documents.
The UN mission in Liberia has written to the Indian government, confirming that the ship was carrying a large consignment of undeclared arms, ammunition and explosives belonging to peacekeeping contingents from Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan.
Indian Customs officials, however, insisted they would conduct a search and go through all documents to ensure that no part of the cargo was missing. Officials also said there were certain discrepancies between the statements made by the shipping agent in India and the Greek captain of the ship.
Customs officials on June 26 questioned the 20-member crew of the Karachi-bound ship, detecting inconsistencies in the documents supplied by the captain. The vessel, which was intercepted by the West Bengal police and the Coast Guard at Namkhana near the mouth of the Hooghly in the last week of June, could be brought to the Kolkata Dock System immediately.
Aegean Glory was en route to the Kolkata port from Chittagong in Bangladesh for offloading some cargo when it was intercepted. The police and the Coast Guard had information from the Kolkata Port Trust that the ship was carrying undeclared Grade-I military arms and explosives.
Till news last came in, the cargo bound for Nepal which consisted of a container and four vehicles had already been unloaded from the ship. "One of the biggest mysteries is why the agent failed to declare the nature of the cargo while filling up necessary documents with Kolkata Port Trust. This was military cargo and the agent should have known that he needed to declare it even if it was not meant for India.
Moreover, port records show that the ship was in transit and was to unload its Nepal-bound cargo at the Diamond Harbour anchorage. We are still not sure how cargo from a gearless ship could be unloaded at Diamond Harbour, which does not have any port facilities as of now," a senior Customs official said.
Sources said miscommunication between the port and the shipping agent could have resulted in this fracas.
The shipping agency should have known better than to leave such a deadly cargo undeclared when it knew that the ship would be travelling for nearly 100 km up the Hooghly to reach Diamond Harbour. Also, the company should have known that a gearless vessel a ship that has no cranes or other loading/unloading equipment on board can't be handled at the Diamond Harbour anchorage. It would have to be taken to Haldia or Kolkata.
"We think the agent may have believed that no declaration would be required as the ship would not enter the port confines of Kolkata. Trouble erupted when the pilot realised that MV Aegean Glory was a gearless ship and it would have to be taken to KDS. This is when it came to be known that no declaration had been made by the agent as to the nature of the cargo and the ship was stopped. None can deny that there was negligence on the part of the agent," the official said.
“Though the agent of the Crystal Shipping Company had declared that the ship was carrying a consignment of arms and ammunition for the Nepalese Army for offloading at the Kolkata port, no disclosure was made about the ship's cargo of approximately five tonnes of dangerous weapons and explosives destined for Karachi,” DGP Bhupinder Singh said.