Security agencies in Chennai made a major breakthrough by seizing chemical consignment used in the production of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Delivery System which has been banned in India under the provisions of Customs Act 1962 and (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act 2005. The chemical Ortho-Chloro Benzylidene Malononitrile weighed 2,560 kgs and stored in 103 drums of 2.5 kgs each was seized from Kattupalli Port near Chennai from a Karachi-bound ship sailing from Shanghai Port.
Interestingly, the ship spotted a Cyprus flag.
The banned chemical was from Chengdu Shichen Trading Company Ltd and was meant for Rohail Enterprises in Rawalpindi.
Though the vessel was taken into control by the Customs Department at Kattupalli on 8 May 2024, the investigating agencies could complete the probe and identify the chemical only during the last few days. The consignment was seized by the Customs Department as it was found that the substance figured under the export control list SCOMET.
Though officials of the ship told the security agencies that the chemical was for producing tear gas and riot control agents, the Indian officials were not convinced as there were reports that Pakistan and China were working on an offensive chemical and biological warfare program. An Australian investigator Anthony Clan had reported in 2020 itself that China and Pakistan have entered into a deal to expand biowarfare capabilities ‘including running several research projects related to deadly agent anthrax’.
Clan had said in his report that China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology (the epicenter of the dreaded Covid-19 virus) and Pakistan’s Defense Science Technology Organization (DESTO), an exclusive military establishment for developing biological and chemical warfare against India in addition to manufacturing high-tech weapons and engineering to be used against India have entered into a strategic partnership to develop emerging infectious diseases and biological control of transmitted diseases.
On Sunday, Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif while presiding over a meeting convened to assess the progress of various MoUs signed with China said that a new era of Pakistan-China cooperation in various fields has dawned and it would lead to economic development and deepening of time-tested bilateral relationship.
In March 2024, security agents posted at Nhava Seva Port near Mumbai had intercepted and seized a consignment from a Karachi-bound ship from China and the materials were found to be dual use consignment linked to Pakistan’s nuclear and ballistic missile program.
