The plane held in China allegedly carrying undeclared arms heading for China from the United Arab Emirates has been released, the Times of India reports:
Sources say that the China-bound UAE Air Force aircraft detained at the NSC Bose International airport in Kolkata after arms and
ammunition were found on board as the Customs authorities has been allowed to leave India. It is said that the defense ministry has been told to leave the plane after the crew were found to be cooperative. The UAE has expressed regret over the incident. ( Watch Video )The C-130 Hercules aircraft has been waiting to resume its flight for the past four days.
An external affairs ministry statement on Tuesday said that the UAE authorities, both in New Delhi and Abu Dhabi, had formally regretted the omission of items carried by the aircraft and had described it as a ‘technical error’.
See also an article from The Times which gives more details about the plane:
The discovery has raised eyebrows, as the UAE buys most of its weapons from the United States and European Union, which impose strict controls on arms transfers to China.
The most controversial theory is that the weapons include high-tech equipment that China would like to examine or copy.
Last year the UAE purchased 14 Maverick air-to-ground missiles from the United States and also signed a contract to buy US Patriot air defence missiles.
The UAE has refused to comment on the matter, fuelling suspicions that the three boxes of weapons found on the Hercules C130 transport plane were supposed to be secret. The aircraft was refuelling en route from Abu Dhabi to the northern Chinese city of Xianyang — a big arms production centre.
