A 33-year-old Canadian pilot of a chartered plane was arrested at the Delhi airport for allegedly carrying a live cartridge in his luggage. The arrest came a little before he was to fly Bharatiya Janata Party national president Nitin Gadkari to Nagpur.
Hubbard Rafael Jose, a Euro Airlines charter plane pilot, was detained by the Central Industrial Security Force officials with a 7.62 bore cartridge in his bag during a security check at the domestic airport around 9.30 a.m.
When he could not give any satisfactory reply, he was handed over to the Delhi Police. He was arrested under the Arms Act.
During interrogation, Mr. Jose reportedly told the police that he did not know how the cartridge got into his bag. He said that he had bought the second-hand bag from the Sarojini Nagar market and packed his luggage without checking it.
He was later produced at a Dwarka court which granted him bail on a personal surety of Rs.20,000.
The police have written to the Canadian embassy seeking his antecedents.
