Chennai, August 18: The fate of a detained North Korean ship would be known only after its cargo was offloaded at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh in a day or two to check if it carried any ‘suspicious’ consignment, Coast Guard said today.
The ship, MV Musen, was expected to leave Port Blair this evening with a Coast Guard (CG) vessel, Saarang, escorting it to Kakinada, Inspector General S P S Basra, Commander, Eastern Region of the Coast Guard, told reporters here.
“At the moment, as per available information, it has genuine cargo and has nothing suspicious in it. After discharging the cargo all agencies involved with the interrogation including the Coast Guard, I am sure, will assemble once again to see if anything suspicious was there before the ship is cleared to sail out,” Basra said.
Last week, Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, had said while the North Korean ship “prima facie”, seemed to have been carrying genuine cargo destined for Iraq, “we have to be doubly sure with North Korea.”
On the coastal security scenario in the Eastern region, Basra said coordinated efforts by the Coast Guard, Navy and state police were either held or being held in Tamil Nadu (Operation Barricade), Andhra Pradesh (Operation Barrier) and West Bengal (Operation Citadel) to test the preparedness and ruled out any specific terror threat. .
–Agencies