6 British anti-pirates released from Indian Jail.

Chennai Six: Britons released from Indian jail

There but for the grace of God go I.

India was a pain in the ass doing anti-piracy transits. One time we had a ship in dock in Bombay and the Indian officials came on to inspect the ship. We had gats and ammunition locked up with paperwork in the ship’s dry stores. I was on the bridge to receive them. I was told in no uncertain terms that if any of our security team appeared on deck, or tried to disembark we’d all be arrested! We had to spend three days below deck.

Sri Lanka was cool and we kept weapons there with their navy. All the Islamic countries in the Gulf of Aden etc were cool too. Egypt and Pakistan wanted baksheesh, but that’s normal for those places. The Suez Canal was nicknamed the Marlboro Canal, as the Egyptians would expect cigarettes and booze from dry stores to speed your trip through to the Med or Red Sea.

These guys were scapegoats. The ship’s Captain takes full responsibility for all paperwork, including the team weapons. I never liked that as crews could be from anywhere and some captains were not as professional as others. This Ukrainian f~~~ed it up. Glad they’re released, can’t have been good in that stinking hole of a prison.