Posted on 12/28/2005 8:16:12 PM PST by Flavius
NEW DELHI: India’s defence and interior ministries were investigating how 100 tonnes of explosives went missing from a merchant navy ship bound for Iran, officials said on Wednesday.
The six missing containers of explosives were intended for road construction in Afghanistan where India’s Border Road Organisation was constructing a highway. "About 100 tonnes of explosives meant for the Border Road Organisation in Afghanistan were reported missing on the 26th (of December)," said a government official who did not wish to be named.
"We are treating this as a serious security matter," the official said. The captain and six crew of the Iran-bound ship were detained for questioning. The ship set sail from Mumbai on Thursday for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas where the consignment was to be offloaded to be taken to the project site in Afghanistan.
The containers were discovered to be missing just 10 to 15 nautical miles off Mumbai. The official said the captain’s claim that the cargo was lost as the sea was choppy was being investigated. He said officials from customs, police, Indian navy, coast guard and other security agencies were probing into the incident.
English tonnes, I suppose?
I hope they are questioning the crew very thoroughly. That's a lot of explosives to get into the hands of terrorists. Apparently it never left India.
Pakistan doesn't allow Indian shipment of relief and reconstruction supplies via the land route to Afghanistan, through Pakistan. Hence India has to circumvent this blockade via Iran.
"We are treating this as a serious security matter". Very comforting to know.
Expect another round of terror blasts in Indian cities soon.
President Bush's response to this news as our POTUS: "I have alerted all of our Intelligence Agencies to be on high alert on this National Security threat"
Okay, when they say six containers, they're talking about six of the big metal jobs that you see riding around on railroad flatcars and being loaded onto ships with cranes, right?
That's quite a bit of explosive, and the boxes it comes in, to be just "falling off the truck".
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/13482525.htm
Posted on Sun, Dec. 25, 2005
4 arrested, 1 sought in theft of explosives
No evidence crime is tied to terrorism, U.S. official says
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Authorities arrested four men and were searching for one more person in connection with the theft of 400 pounds of explosives — enough to flatten a large building.
All of the explosives and detonating materials were recovered, and there was no evidence that the theft was connected to terrorism, said Wayne Dixie of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Two brothers, Leslie Brown, 44, of Ignacio, Colo., and David Brown, 49, of Bloomfield, N.M., face federal charges that include possession of stolen explosives and felons in possession of explosives, Dixie said.
Authorities gave few other details, including the names of the others arrested Friday. A tip led to the arrests. “Investigators are still interviewing these people that are involved, so we don’t have all the answers yet,” Dixie said.
The explosives were reported missing last Sunday from Cherry Engineering’s storage depot eight miles southwest of Albuquerque. Stolen were 150 pounds of C-4, 250 pounds of sheet explosives, 20,000 feet of detonator cord, and 2,500 blasting caps.
The explosives were intact, and it did not appear that anyone had tried to use the material, authorities said. Authorities said the brothers did not have experience to use the explosives.
Investigators said they were continuing a search of a storage facility south of Bloomfield, where most of the explosives were found. Some of the material was found in Ignacio and at another location in Bloomfield.
Oops, posted the wrong article. My bad!
There is no problem that cannot be solved with the proper application of explosives.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1350490.cms
Explosives sank in sea, says captain
[ Thursday, December 29, 2005 02:22:24 am TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
NEW DELHI: Talking about the loss of a consignment of explosives, a senior government official told TOI: "We are taking this incident very seriously.
That is why a multi-agency team has been formed and is already on the job." The team has experts from the Customs, Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Maharashtra Police and intelligence agencies. Home secretary V K Duggal was coordinating the effort.
The captain and six crew of the ship, MV Eugenia, bound for Bandar Abbas, have been detained and are being questioned by the authorities to ascertain how the explosives went missing after the vessel had set sail from Mumbai last Friday.
Officials in Delhi said the probe would take care of all angles, especially the security one. The explosives were meant for use by the Border Road Organisation (BRO) for blasting rocks and moutainsides for road construction to link Delaram with Kandahar in Afghanistan.
This has been BRO's most difficult project with opposition from the Taliban remnants operating with help from across the Afghan border with Pakistan.
A BRO employee, M R Kutty, was killed last month and the personnel now operate with enhanced security by the Afghan personnel and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
According to reports, the Navy and Coast Guard located the vessel just off Mumbai coast on Friday and towed it back under escort.
The captain claimed the explosives had sunk in the sea in rough weather, officials said. A search has been launched for the shipping agent who had booked the explosives.
Director of the shipping company, Unimarine Ltd, Samsu Sheroff, claimed that about six hours after the vessel set sail, it encountered a very choppy sea and the master of the ship reported that one of the containers on the deck got loose and might have fallen into the sea.
He said the master again sent a message to the owner of the ship on Friday saying one container had already been lost.
When the ship was asked the next day to return to Mumbai, the master, while turning the ship around, reported that the other five containers on board were also lost.
"So, the entire cargo meant for Bandar Abbas from where that was to go Afghanistan for the BRO was lost," a Mumbai report quoted Sheroff as saying.
Maintaining that the cargo had been lost in the sea, he claimed that it was very much lying on the sea bed.
"Tonnes" is generally the spelling used for 'long tons'; i.e., metric tons @ 2200 lbs.
Lost at sea? I somehow doubt seagoing cordeau or Dupont Super is stacked willy nilly on deck enough to just become fish bait.
I suspect someone is going to fish or cut bait with the goods.
"We are treating this as a serious security matter".
Gee ya think?
No, it is lying from the deck of a ship.
LoL!
OPINION: You have a way with words, blurblogger.
Stolen by Eve Teasers, no doubt, probably on their way from tiffin.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.