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Kolkata, India (AFP) June 26, 2010 A Pakistan-bound cargo ship carrying a "huge quantity" of explosives and other weapons has been detained by authorities at a harbour in eastern India, Kolkata police said on Saturday. The vessel was heading for the Pakistani port of Karachi and was detained Friday at Diamond Harbour, south of Kolkata, capital of West Bengal state, following an intelligence tip-off, police said. "The Indian Coast Guard and navy personnel have found a huge quantity of explosives, rocket launchers, anti-aircraft guns and some bombs in two large containers," West Bengal police director general Bhupinder Singh said. "The captain of the ship is being interrogated for further information," he added at a news conference in Kolkata. The 153-metre- (500-foot-) long ship was being taken to Kolkata for a thorough search by intelligence and other officials, Singh said. "Customs have now decided to completely rummage the ship." Police identified the vessel as the MV Aegean Glory and said it was registered in Panama. The incident came as Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram pressed Pakistan to do more to bring to justice those behind the November 2008 Mumbai attacks that left 166 people dead. The detained ship had sailed from Monrovia, Liberia, then to Mauritius and on to Chittagong in Bangladesh before making for Diamond Harbour, West Bengal police inspector general Surojit Karpurokayastha said. He said police had initially believed the ship was registered in Saint Vincent but later examination showed it to be registered in Panama. "The seized documents show that the vessel's origin was Liberia," Karpurokayastha told AFP. He said he could not comment on who was the intended recipient of the weapons. Nuclear rivals India and Pakistan have fought three wars since 1947 including two over the Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir. Relations went into deep freeze after Islamist gunmen went on the rampage in Mumbai in November 2008. India and the United States blamed the Mumbai attack on Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a militant group based in Pakistan and linked to the Pakistani spy service. In Islamabad on Saturday the Indian minister suggested some progress was being made in counter-terrorism cooperation but Pakistan, which Delhi suspects of abetting terrorists, could still do more. "We know that seven people are being prosecuted in the case. How far that prosecution has proceeded is for the Pakistan government to say," Chidambaram said. "We think that more people stay behind the terrorist attack and more people should be prosecuted." burs-njc/har
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