A 16-metre-long abandoned yacht named ‘My Lady Han’ carrying three AK-74 rifles and ammunition on Thursday, August 18, 2022 was found adrift off Raigad coast in Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, the security officials have ruled out any terror angle linked to the weapons and were found to be legal.
The incident happened near Harihareshwar beach in Raigad district of Maharashtra, nearly 190-kms away from India’s financial capital Mumbai.
However, the yacht’s sailor, James Hobert asserted that the weapons were only meant for security purposes against the Somalia pirates.
Earlier on June 26, the yacht had sent a distress signal due to bad weather near the Gulf of Oman, following which, the craft was rescued by the Korean Navy vessel named “ROKS Dae Jo Yeong’ of Combined Task Force (CTF)-151. But in the middle, the tow broke down and the yacht carrying the defined arms consignments on board drifted away.
“There was an engine failure in the Gulf of Oman. We raised a distress call and were rescued by a cargo ship, Kyoto Express. I was unconscious as I suffered a head injury. The next morning, I was airlifted by a helicopter and taken to a hospital in Salalah (in Oman) as I had trauma. On the same evening, after my three member crew found it difficult to continue the journey due to weather, they were rescued by a Korean warship and they also tried to tow my vessel,” said the captain of ‘My Lady Han’.
The vessel had last sailed from Dubai in the month of May-June with three crew members on board, the owner-an Australian woman Hana Laundergun, Captain James and a few others and were moving to Muscat from Europe.
Maharashtra’s Home Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, in his reaction, said, “Three AK-47 rifles, papers, and cartridges were found… The Coast Guard was also informed.”
The case is still being investigated.
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