Gujarat High Court issues third arrest warrant against merchant vessel

24-Oct-2024 12:49 PM

Ahmedabad. The Gujarat High Court has issued its third arrest warrant against a merchant vessel - SW South Wind 1.

The ship is detained at Deendayal (Kandla) port in connection with alleged irregularities in export of organic rice.

A judge has issued the warrant in his oral order which was issued on the petition of a company - Farm Fresh International.

This is the second case in which the judge has had to issue an arrest warrant. Last week, the arrest of the ship was ordered after an appeal by another company, while earlier this month another judge had ordered the arrest of the ship while hearing a petition filed by MEIR Commodities India Ltd.

In the latest development, Farm Fresh told the court that it bought 600 tonnes of sella rice loaded on this ship from a firm and sold it to another company.

The company then contracted with the ship owner for the shipment of this rice between July and August 2024, but the ship has not yet left.

The petition said that by August 7, the loading of rice on the ship was completed and on August 8, the ship was ready to depart, but on August 9, it was informed that the ship was stopped at the port because clearance for the cargo could not be obtained.

But the ship was stopped for other reasons even though the company had followed all the standards.