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| | The seizure of a huge arms cache from a Karachi-bound ship in Kerala last week was "only the tip of the iceberg" and could be part of a bigger terrorist operation, the Indian Navy chief said on Tuesday. "The recent discovery of rifles in a shipment of furniture cartons at Kochi on board a Karachi-bound ship and originating from Dubai is perhaps only the tip of the iceberg as far as these nefarious activities are concerned," Admiral Sureesh Mehta told the closing session of an international seminar on maritime trade and security here. "As almost 90 percent of the world's trade is containerised and six of the top 10 container handling ports are located within Asia, this is an issue of regional concern," Mehta noted. A senior naval officer attending the seminar said it was intriguing that the ship carrying the container from which the arms were seized was bound for Karachi via Kochi and Mumbai. "This is a very intriguing routing and, in fact, this is what made the customs officials suspicious and led to the seizure," the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Customs officials in Kochi made the seizure Jan 9. One person was detained for interrogation, officials said. They said the container, which arrived Jan 4, contained 810 packets in 37 cartons. What has surprised them is each of the packets also has a copy of the Quran. The container has been kept at the Container Freight Station, which is owned by the brother of senior Inspector General of Police Tomin J. Thachankary. Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has expressed concern over the incident. "This is a serious issue and I have asked Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) Jacob Punnoose to inquire into it and submit a report," he told reporters in Thiruvananthapuran. Speaking about the threat of terrorists smuggling arms, ammunition and other equipment through ships, Mehta noted that the Container Security Initiative launched by the US post 9/11 "has resulted in its ruling out 94 percent of the cargo as potential threats prior to arrival at any of its ports". "The balance six percent of total cargo containers are physically inspected immediately upon arrival," he added. --Indo Asian News Service vm/am/mr |
