Drama over, UAE plane flies to China

Kolkata: The United Arab Emirates Air Force C-130 J Super Hercules aircraft, which had been held up at the Kolkata airport since Sunday evening following the discovery of arms, ammunition and explosives in its cargo, finally took off for Xiangyang in China at 9.24 am on Thursday. The nine crew members left by the flight as well.
Though there were speculations on whether the plane would be escorted back to Sunday's entry point into Indian airspace over the Arabian Sea, the defence ministry and Indian Air Force allowed it to take its original path. The plane reached Xiangyang around noon after flying over Dhaka, Chittagong and Kunming.
The plane had been seized by Customs authorities on Sunday night 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 to last 13 hours, but stretched to 88 hours. Though crew members had been cleared by the immigration department on Tuesday and the ministry of external affairs (MEA) and ministry of defence (MoD) indicated they would allow the aircraft to proceed the day after, the flight was held up due to delay in applying for Air Defence/AOR clearance by the UAE government.
11/09/09 Times of India

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