Apart from carrying arms illegally, the men were also charged with entering Indian waters without permission.
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In his order, Judge N Rajasekaran said the captain had failed to obtain the proper approvals before entering Indian waters, and the licence obtained in Sierra Leone had not been renewed. The seizure of the ship -nearly a year and a half after the shooting of two fishermen by Italian marines -brought home the threat to India’s mari time security from the presence of armed personnel in ships near the Indian coast supposedly on anti-piracy missions. They cited global law that permits “innocent” passage of even naval vessels of other countries and takes into consideration the condition of ships under distress.
Police arrested all the 35 crew members under various acts, including the Arms Act 1959 and the Essential Commodities Act on October 18, 2013.
The incident occurred on October 12, 2013, when an Indian Coast Guard ship came across Seaman Guard Ohio, a ship belonging to a US-based company, moving suspiciously in Indian waters.
David Cameron made a personal appeal to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when the latter visited the United Kingdom in November past year. The vessel was escorted to the VOC Chi dambaranar Port in Tuticorin.
“The Madras high court granted bail to the accused, but we challenged it successfully and ensured that they were nailed”, K. Sivakumar, public prosecutor, said, as quoted by The Hindustan Times.
The Q branch of Tamil Nadu police – the force’s anti-terror wing – had seized 35 firearms, 5,682 rounds of ammunition and 102 magazines from the ship.
“We will move High Court since the judgement was against us”.
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An Indian court quashed charges laid against the crew in July 2014, but the Supreme Court overturned that ruling the following year and ordered their trial.
