Cargo theft, four held

Chennai: Police said they have solved the theft of 50kg raw material used to prepare drugs from the city airport’s cargo complex, reported in May 2017, with the arrest of four people on Saturday. The stolen chemicals are used to prepare party drug or ecstasy and was to be exported.
The arrested suspects — S Kumaran, 42, of Nanganallur; J Dhinesh, 29, D Ravi, 54, and J Ansan, 51, all residents of Alandur, were employed at the cargo terminal as contract employees and loadmen.
Investigation officers said the case was solved after the suspects approached a private chemical manufacturing firm in the city recently to procure more quantity of the chemical for export. The firm doubted their credibility and tipped police who nabbed them.
During questioning, they confessed to have stolen the chemical from the cargo terminal and exported it for hefty profits. A community service register was recorded by the airport police in 2017 soon after the theft, but the case remained unsolved.
27/05/19 Times of India

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Veggies meant for export rot at airport

Madurai: Delay in clearing vegetables, weighing around four tonnes, meant to be exported to South East Asian countries resulted in it getting damaged at the cargo terminal of Madurai airport. While the cargo operator claimed software technical glitch playing spoilsport, customs officials said that the consignment arrived late.
The vegetables were meant to be shipped by SriLankan airline to Colombo, from where it is distributed to South East Asian countries through various carriers. The flight starts from Madurai at 3.40pm and reaches Colombo at 4.35pm.
S A Sayeed, courier forwarding agent at Madurai airport, said that due to technical glitch in the software customs officials had to clear them manually on Saturday. “While other goods were cleared, they made unnecessary delay to issue clearance certificate. Although the cargo reached the terminal at 1.27 pm, it was not cleared,” he said.
19/05/19 Times of India

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Indian jets intercept cargo plane flying from Karachi

Indian Air Force fighter jets forced a Georgian cargo plane flying from Karachi to New Delhi to land in the northern city of Jaipur on Friday after it allegedly violated Indian airspace.

The An-12 aircraft was intercepted by two Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets after it deviated from its scheduled flight path, the Indian Air Force (IAF) said.

"The aircraft did not follow the authorised Air Traffic Services route and was not responding to radio calls from Indian controlling agencies," the IAF said in a statement.

"The aircraft was shadowed and forced to land at Jaipur for necessary investigation."

Hundreds of commercial and cargo flights have been affected by continuing tensions between India and Pakistan after their tit-for-tat air strikes in February.

Restrictions over Pakistani airspace have forced international airlines including those from India to take costly and lengthy detours.

The air strikes followed a suicide attack in disputed Kashmir that killed 40 Indian paratroopers and ignited fears of an all-out conflict.
10/05/19 Jakarta Post

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Plane from Karachi deviates from path while entering India, forced to land at Jaipur airport

A Georgian cargo plane which was coming from Karachi to New Delhi took a detour and deviated from it's scheduled path while entering the Indian air space through North Gujarat sector at 3.15 PM on Friday afternoon. According to Defence Ministry, the aircraft didn't follow ATS route and didn't respond to radio calls. This lead to activation of IAF Defence aircrafts regarding possible foul play and the plane was forced to land at Jaipur airport.

Since ATS routes in the area were closed due to the current geopolitical situation, and the aircraft entered Indian Air Space from an unscheduled point, the Air Defence interceptor on operational readiness was scrambled and vectored towards the unknown aircraft for investigation. On visual contact, the aircraft was identified as Georgian An-12 flying at twenty seven thousand feet. The aircraft neither responded on international distress frequency nor to visual signals during interception. However, when challenged, the aircraft responded and informed that it was a non scheduled An-12 aircraft that had got airborne from Tbilisi (Georgia) for Delhi via Karachi. The aircraft was shadowed and forced to land at Jaipur for necessary investigation.
 The aircraft was successfully intercepted by highly alert IAF Air Defence aircraft and was forced to land at Jaipur airfield. The pilot is being questioned and securitymen are sweeping the plane for any possible red alerts. The plane was escorted by two Sukhoi pilots.
10/05/19 DNA

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