Detained Korean ship likely to be let off

No incriminating cargo on board, says Navy

“The investigating team did not find any incriminating cargo or evidence on board. Accordingly, the procedures for the vessel to leave Indian waters are being initiated”, Navy sources said here on Sunday.

The authorities, who inspected the vessel, which had set sail from Colombo to the Pakistani port of Bin Qasim near Karachi, had confirmed that the claims of the ship crew were genuine, the sources said in Kochi.

The reason

The crew had cited internal leak in its tank as reason for anchoring in Indian waters, they said. The ship ‘Hyang Ro’ owned by the Sinhung Shipping of North Korea, has a crew of 44.
A joint team comprising Indian Navy, Coastguard, Intelligence agencies, police and port authorities completed their investigations of the ship, which had anchored without mandatory clearance on October 2, about 35 kms off Vatakara coast, the sources said.
Information about the ship was given by local fishermen.

In a joint operation, the ship was surrounded and detained by two Coastguard ships and a Navy vessel and the crew was questioned. It was joined by police and state marine force also, a senior Coastguard official said.

Coastal patrolling had been stepped up in Kerala in the aftermath of last year’s Mumbai terror attack.

In september, a North Korean ship was detained by the Coast Guard after a chase in Andaman and Nicobar Island.

After critically examining the vessle ‘M V Mu San’ at Kakinada port a team of scientists from Kalapakkam nuclear centre concluded there were no “CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radioactive and Nuclear) traces”.