‘India blocked N Korea’s illicit cargo to Iran’

NEW DELHI: A US legislator has claimed that India at the request of the US blocked airspace to a North Korean plane that was bound for Iran with ���illicit cargo���.

���Last August, India responded to a US request and blocked its airspace to a North Korean plane delivering illicit cargo to Iran. That plane had to turn back,��� Congressman Ed Royce said during a Congressional hearing on North Korea, according to the agency reports.

Mr Royce, who did not elaborate on the contents of the ���illicit cargo���, was speaking at a joint hearing of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment and Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-proliferation and Trade on ���North Korea���s Nuclear and Missile Tests and the Six Party Talks: Where do we go from here?���

The US legislator said that Pyongyang���s cooperation with states such as Iran and Syria was very well documented. ���North Korean proliferation makes proposals to cap its nuclear programme a non-starter. While diplomacy dithers, we need to be bolstering our defenses against North Korean proliferation,��� he said. Mr Royce said North Korean proliferation to West Asia heightens concerns.