saw this news recently not sure if this was publish on the ST. It seemed that it passes thru Singapore. I wonder if the maritime authority knew about it.
Wary India frisks North Korean freighter
By Sreeram Chaulia
After the international suspense thriller in June over the movements of the North Korean cargo ship Kang Nam I ended with the freighter beating a retreat and returning home, an equally intriguing case has emerged off the southern coast of India.
Another North Korean vessel, the Mu San, is currently in the custody of Indian authorities after it dropped anchor without permission at Hut Bay, the entry point to India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands on August 6.
If the case of Kang Nam I was curious, the Mu San has its own mysteries that are deepening by the day. When the ship first approached Andaman and Nicobar, India's coast guards sent an aircraft overhead to communicate, but the North Koreans refused to respond.
A Coast Guard ship then tailed it and found that the 39 North Korean sailors on board were unwilling to halt. On being approached, the Mu San attempted to escape and Indian authorities fired in the air. After a tense six-hour chase, the ship finally "obeyed" and was dragged to the nearby city of Port Blair for inspection.
According to the captured sailors, the ship was carrying 16,500 tons of sugar bound for Iraq - a fact confirmed by searching its contents. One theory being bandied about is that the craft decided to dock in India for purely commercial reasons after learning that New Delhi had just announced zero import duties on sugar, a commodity that has fallen short this year due to a failed crop.
Sugar as merchandise on the high seas is a seemingly innocuous mission, except that the ship's crew frequently changed their versions when interrogated.
The claim that they came to make a quick killing on eased tariffs did not dovetail with the other assertion of the ship's captain that they changed direction towards the Andaman Islands because of "mechanical failure". Moreover, the other stops the vessel made along the way were erratic and suspicious.
Indian officials have learned that the Mu San docked unscheduled in Singapore without following the routine passport stamping procedure. Investigators also say that the same ship had in the past "made several voyages between North Korea and China without maintaining proper records".
As North Korea's nuclear program - which is now a matter of global concern and subject to United Nations sanctions - has been a beneficiary of Chinese technology and materiel transfer, India's military and civilian intelligence agencies rushed to the site where the Mu San is being held.
If it docked, definitely MPA knew about it.
No reason to raise a hoo-ha over valid commercial cargo ie 16k tons of sugar.
Can't see MPA being too "eng" to be concerned over such commercial cargo.
the indian navy learn of unsceduled docked.......cargo could have already being transload to other ship or via other means of transportation.
Good luck....