US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Missile parts in N Korean ship have Chinese, Jap markings

D V Maheshwari in Bhuj

The Pakistan-bound missile components in a North Korean ship, now under the custody of the Kandla port authorities, have been found to possess Chinese and Japanese markings.

''While 80 percent of the military goods -- consisting of 119 boxes, 3 heavy packages and 26 piped cases of unusual length -- do not have any markings, 20 percent do have the manufacturers' markings in Chinese and Japanese,'' a source said, hinting that this cargo could have been purchased from these countries for assembly in Pakistan.

The new and interesting development in the investigation into the ship's cargo is the presence of foreign experts, some of whom are reported to be Americans. These experts are said to be here to doubly confirm the cargo's exact nature following a week-long examination by experts from various Indian defence organisations.

Earlier, the customs authorities had started making a re-inventory of all the items, falsely declared as water purifying equipment in the bill of landing, to facilitate the investigation.

''The case has now assumed international importance and we, therefore, do not want to leave anything to chance as the case has to be pucca and tenable in court,'' a source in an investigating agency said.

The source said the case was a clear instance of breach of both the customs laws and the arms act. The legal proceedings, in all probability, would begin this week after the ongoing recording of statements of the 44 crew members, including the master Tae Min Hun, is completed, the source added.

The Kandla port authorities are, however, sceptical about this deadline fixed by the customs officials. ''They (customs officials) interrogate only two or three Koreans a day and so far only ten have been questioned. I don't understand how the remaining 30 can be grilled in such a short time,'' a high port official asked.

In fact, the port authorities are incensed at the long occupancy of one whole jetty for more than a month by a single ship and have asked the customs people to finish their job immediately, else they would be forced to shift the ship to a mooring point midstream.

The warning has come following heavy congestion at the port which has only eight dry cargo berths to handle traffic that caters exclusively to a one million square kilometres-long hinterland in north India.

''We are incurring a revenue loss of Rs 250,000 daily and have already lost business worth over one hundred thousand tonnes of cargo so far because of the closure of the berth occupied by the controversial N Korean ship,'' the official complained.

He added that already six ships were waiting at Outer Tuna Bouy for berthing and nine were in mid-sea en route to Kandla. The official feared that the port would lose its number one position as handler of maritime traffic in the country if the berth remained closed.

ALSO SEE: Secrecy shrouds N Korean ship's status

Tell us what you think of this report