Caught in the act

India seizes 2,560kg of riot-control chemical sent from China to Pakistan at the Kattupalli Port near Chennai

- NAMRATA BIJI AHUJA

When former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan started his 26-hour march from Peshawar to Islamabad on May 25, 2022, demanding a date for elections, troops armed with weapons, rubber bullets, shotguns and tear gas were ready to disperse his supporters. But the aftermath of their intervention was unprecedented. Several demonstrators fainted after inhaling tear gas. Scattered cannisters on the streets showed the use of riot control agents, the common one being Ortho-Chlorobenzylidene Malononitrile, known as CS gas.

The CS gas is known to cause a wide range of symptoms impacting the eyes, lungs, skin and also dizziness. In large quantities, it can be lethal. Its use in war is prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention, signed by most countries in 1993. The convention came into effect in 1997, but an exception was allowed to use it for domestic riot control purposes.

Post pandemic, India has been keeping a tighter vigil on the skies, shores and land routes around it to keep toxicity at bay. On May 8, alarm bells rang at the Kattupalli Port near Chennai following the seizure of a Chinese vessel, Hyundai Shanghai. Customs authorities on routine checking found a suspicious consignment on board the ship, which came from Shanghai. Sailing under a Cyprus flag, the Hyundai Shanghai was on its way to Karachi.

The consignment was shipped on April 18 by a Chinese firm, Chengdu Shichen Trading Company Ltd, to a Rawalpindi-based defence supplier, Rohail Enterprises. It was found to be 2,560kg of CS, which is a listed substance under the Wassenaar Arrangement as well. The Wassenaar Arrangement, of which India is a signatory, is an export control regime covering conventional arms as well as dual-use goods and technologies. The consignment, stored in 103 drums, was seized under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962, and the Weapons of Mass Destruction and Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act, 2005.