China: Plane detention an espionage attempt

Beijing has taken strong exception to the detention of a China-bound United Arab Emirates Air Force aircraft at Kolkata airport earlier this week. It cal-led the incident an attempt by Indian officials "to spy on Chinese military secrets".
"It (the detention of the aircraft) violated diplomatic rights because the cargo on board belonged to China," said Global Times, a Chinese Communist Party-owned English newspaper. The report, quoting Dai Xu, whom the daily identified as a military expert, added that the arms were being taken back to China from Abu Dhabi after a weapon expo.
The C-130 Hercules among the biggest transport aircraft in the world was on its way to Xiangyang, China, from UAEAF's Western Air Command base in Abu Dhabi and detained at Kolkata airport on September 6. After trying to fob off Indian officials and investigators, one of the pilots of the aircraft admitted that the plane was carrying a consignment of weapons.
The plane was seized by Customs authorities as the documentation submitted prior to its arrival did not disclose the cargo. The technical halt for refuelling and giving the crew rest was originally scheduled for 13 hours, but stretched to 88 hours. The aircraft finally took off for Xiangyang at 9.24 am on Thursday. The matter could have been resolved earlier had conventional weapons been on board. But the presence of three boxes, marked "combat missiles" led to the logjam. Sleuths suspected that deadly US-made Harpoon missiles were being channelized to China from UAE and Egypt.
13/09/09 Manas Paul/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Sep 2009, Foreign Sep 2009, Safety Sep 2009