New Delhi: India has seized two dual-use technology items — which are restricted since they have use in both civil and nuclear applications — from a vessel that had sailed from China and was on its way to Pakistan, ThePrint has learnt.
Sources in the security establishment told ThePrint that the seizure was made after a Malta-flagged vessel made a port call in Mumbai amid increasing Houthi attacks in the Arabian Sea.
The sources further said that the seized items were advanced CNC machinery, manufactured by GKD, Italy, which were being diverted to Pakistan through China. CNC means ‘Computer Numerical Control’, and such machines are basically controlled by a computer and produce a scale of efficiency, consistency and accuracy which is not possible manually.
It is learnt that the equipment would be useful in manufacturing critical parts for the missile development programme of Pakistan.
Sources said that the consignment was shipped 9 January on the Malta-flagged merchant vessel CMA CGM Attila at Shekou Port, China.
It was destined for Karachi Port, and Cosmos Engineering, a Pakistani defence supplier, was the consignee, it is learnt. However, during the voyage, the vessel reached the Nhava Sheva Port (JNPT) Mumbai on 22 January and the consignment was seized by Indian customs officials for prevention of possible proliferation concerns by Pakistan and China.
Customs officials on the condition of anonymity said that Cosmos Engineering had been on watchlist since March 2022, when Pakistan was trying to procure thermo-electric instruments from an Italian firm, with Cosmos Engineering being the consignee.
The same was intercepted at Nhava Sheva Port on 23 March 12 to prevent proliferation activities through Indian ports.
Earlier, in February 2020, China was supplying an autoclave, which can be used in the launch process of ballistic missiles, “wrongly declaring” it as an industrial dryer.
Sources said that the seizure of the autoclave, possibly meant to be used in the missile programme of Pakistan, strengthens the apprehensions that Pakistan is indulging in illegal trade of missiles and violating the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).
Incidentally, the autoclave is notified in the SCOMET list and was found concealed in the bottom cargo of the ship transiting through Kandla, Gujarat.
Sources explained that unchecked trading of missile technologies has been a concern and the European Union nations and other Western countries are now increasing their surveillance and cooperation on this front.
In June last year, an annual report released by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution for the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg highlighted, “Iran, Pakistan, North Korea and Syria are still pursuing such efforts. They aim to complete existing arsenals, perfect the range, deployability and effectiveness of their weapons and develop new weapons systems”.
It added that “they are trying to obtain the necessary products and relevant know-how, inter alia, through illegal procurement efforts in Germany”.
An analysis of the report suggests that ‘bypass countries’ like Turkey and China could help countries like Pakistan and North Korea, which are said to have indulged in illegal and unrestricted proliferation, to route their proliferation weapons and parts and help the business to grow.
In June 2023, the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) had sanctioned three Chinese companies — General Technology Limited (Autoclave supplier to Pakistan), Beijing Luo Luo Technology Development, and Changzhou Utek Composite Company — for involvement in supply of missile-applicable items to Pakistan’s ballistic missile programme.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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But why do these ships touch Indian ports? Might as well head to Karachi directly from China in this instance.