US ship detained with arms was in Indian waters for months

The US maritime security firm-owned ship, MV Seaman Guard Ohio, had reportedly been in Indian waters for over a month and spotted multiple times before it was detained for illegal possession of weapons. A Times of India report quoted sources in the Director General of Shipping as saying that the ship had berthed in Kochi in August to pick up provisions, after which it sailed to Sharjah. The vessel while in Kochi port for three days hadn’t declared the weapons it had on board, said the report. After it returned from Sharjah it had continued to stay in Indian waters but faced no action from the Coast Guard. [caption id=“attachment_1174643” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The ship is currently berthed in Tuticorin. PTI[/caption] The New Indian Express quoted an official from AdvanFort, the company that owns this vessel, as saying that they had even sought help from the Coast Guard on one occasion in September when they met with an accident. “At the time of the accident, Indian Coast Guard had helped the ship. Since we are maritime security provider, we operate in high risk areas providing security to the party which requires escort in certain piracy-affected areas in the sea. This is exactly what we were doing here and we have submitted all the documents regarding that and waiting for government decision,” Thomas Chacko, from AdvanFort, was quoted as saying. The police has seized 31 assault rifles and around 5,000 rounds of ammunition from the ship. Some reports had suggested that the ship had been sailing between Tuticorin and Kudankulam and the Director General of Shipping was to file a report on the matter. Officials have suggested that the ship could be a floating armoury that carried arms and provided security to merchant vessels operating in areas like the Gulf of Aden where incidents of piracy are common. The Coast Guard had detained the vessel after it received reports of weapons being stored on it illegally and being informed that the ship was attempting to source supplies illegally.