Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) officially reported to the appropriate authority on Monday regarding the discovery at Navi Mumbai’s Nhava Seva port of suspicious items being shipped from China for potential use in Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme.
The DRDO experts said that the large-scale Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines that were confiscated were dual-purpose devices with potential military uses.
Officials told news agency PTI on March 2 that security forces detained a ship that was headed for Karachi from China on January 23 at the port of Nhava Sheva in Navi Mumbai. They believed the ship contained a shipment that might be utilized for Pakistan’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Customs officers on January 23 stopped the merchant ship CMA CGM Attila, flying the flag of Malta, while it was sailing into Karachi.
PTI was informed by officials that a DRDO team had verified the CNC machine’s possible usage in Pakistan’s nuclear program after examining the shipment.
The Wassenaar Arrangement, an international agreement with India actively participating, aims to regulate the spread of commodities for both civilian and military uses. It governs the shipping of CNC machines, which was discovered by Indian officials. A CNC machine was also utilized by North Korea in its nuclear development.
PTI said that additional examinations turned some inconsistencies in the shipment information, indicating attempts to conceal the real beneficiaries.
Pakistan retorted that reports of the seizure were characterized by “misrepresentation of facts” and asserted that the ship heading for Karachi was transporting “commercial goods”.
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