BOMBAY, 25 May 2005 — The huge haul of sophisticated arms and ammunition worth 10 million rupees from a container at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in New Bombay, last Saturday by Bombay police and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), has led to the US taking a serious view of the situation and also a possible joining of forces by deploying security officials at the port.
The US is wary of the modus operandi of the shipment of arms, suspected for use in terror activities, and will now deploy its security official at this largest port of India. They also want the port to join the list of 30 other worldwide ports covered under the Container Security Initiative (CSI). A top police official said that the Jawaharlal Nehru port ranks among one of the top ten ports from were maximum containers are shipped to the United States.
Among the other ports that the US government has put under the CSI plan are Hong Kong, Busan (South Korea), Singapore and even Shanghai in China while Middle East and Asian ports like Dubai, Shenzhen and Colombo are likely to come under the CSI ambit.
The CSI program was launched by the Bush administration after 9/11 and is a counter-terrorism measure adopted by the US government throughout the world.
Confirming the deployment of the US security personnel at the JNPT, R. Buddhiraja, chairman of the JNPT, said that he did not know how many US security personnel are to be deployed at the port. Buddhiraja added the JNPT had already installed scanners and other equipment to examine cargo that is exported to the United States. Presently Indians execute this job but in future this job will be handled by uniformed US personnel from the customs and other security agencies, which will check all the containers for US and will plan overall security. The deployment of the US security personnel, Buddhiraja said, would result in rapid cargo clearances, as the procedures would be in line with US government requirements.
Meanwhile Indian intelligence agencies and customs authorities have strongly objected to permission being granted to US Customs and Border Patrol personnel being posted at Indian port.
