Egyptian sailor held for Islam flyers in Mumbai

An Egyptian third officer of a Kuwaiti ship was arrested at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Nhava-Sheva on Friday after he allegedly distributed pamphlets to dock workers asking them to convert to Islam.

The ship ‘Al Mirqab’ with 31 other crew members was given permission on Friday to leave the port while the 25-year-old Egyptian has been asked to sign off the ship for questioning by security agencies.

“This is the first case where a member of a ship’s crew was arrested for spreading communal disharmony,” said the police.

Inspector general of police (Konkan region) Parambir Singh said that the Egyptian has been accused under section 295 A of IPC for hurting religious sentiments. “The ship was searched thoroughly by us and the customs. It seems that the Egyptian was acting on his own and had even written some similar literature in the ship,” said Singh.

The container ship’s last port of call was Karachi and its next stop was Pipavav port, Gujarat. “It had completed unloading its cargo at 9.30pm on Thursday. The crew members did not come ashore but distributed pamphlets to Indian supply agents and dock workers who came aboard the ship,” said a Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) official.

The ship is owned by United Arab Shipping Company (UASC). Security agencies, including the intelligence bureau, customs and the local police checked the ship on Friday but did not find anything suspicious. Port officials said that crew members included a Pakistani captain and several Indians.

The Egyptian is reported to be an engineer by the name Karim Rahman. The pamphlet was in Hindi and port officials said that publisher of the literature is a Kuwait-based group called the Islamic Dawa and Guidance Centre.
An official at the Nhava-Sheva office of UASC confirmed that an Egyptian crew member has been detained. “He was distributing some pamphlets. While he has been arrested, the ship has sailed for Pipavav,” the official said.

On Wednesday, the ship had been allowed to leave the port after it unloaded its cargo but was asked to return after reports of the pamphlets reached authorities.