India will release detained UAE aircraft soon: Krishna

The External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna on Tuesday said India would facilitate the early release of the UAE military aircraft carrying arms/ ammunition/ explosives including combat missile after their authorities express regret for not declaring the cargo earlier.

``The UAE authorities both here and in Abu Dhabi have since formally regretted the omission in clearly indicating items carried by the aircraft and have described it as a `technical error’’. They have also provided details about the cargo which consists of Combat Missile,’’ the Minister said in a statement.

He said in the light of this, the matter will be resolved in the spirit of the close and friendly ties between India and the UAE. ``…we will facilitate early release of the aircraft’’.

The statement said that the UAE embassy had sought clearance for over flying and landing their Air Force flight at Kolkata airport en route to Xianyang, China. The flight arrived from Abu Dhabi at Kolkata airport on Sunday.

The Captain of the flight, Major Ibrahim Alshamsei filed a declaration of the customs stating that the flight was carrying arms/ammunition/explosives. However, since at the time of initial application, no mention of the arms and ammunition was made, the authorities at Kolkata airport detained the aircraft for further investigation.

Accordingly, after the concurrence of the pilot-in-command of the aircraft, the customs officials entered the aircraft to inquire about the nature of cargo, the statement added.

UAE C-130 has been detained at an Indian airport

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