UAE plane carrying arms detained, permitted to fly later

An aircraft belonging to the United Arab Emirates Air Force was found carrying a large cache of arms and ammunition and detained along with its nine crew members here Sunday night.

The plane, bound for Hanyang in China from Abu Dhabi, landed at the NSC Bose International airport here for refuelling last night. Airport sources said that while customary checking of the plane by customs officials it was found that a large cache of arms and ammunition were stockpiled inside the flight.

The Airport Authority of India was informed and as the plane's crew did not inform the authorities here that the aircraft was carrying arms, its return flight order was cancelled and nine crew members were detained.

Late in the night, a meeting was held with the airport authorities, customs officials, senior air force officers and the UAE crew about the entire matter.

Finally, permission was granted to the plane to resume its flight on Monday morning, sources said.