Twelve Indian civilian sailors, who were in jail in Italy since June 2014 on allegations of possessing drugs, have been freed, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said on Sunday evening.
Twelve Indian civilian sailors, who were in jail in Italy since June 2014 on allegations of possessing drugs, have been freed, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said on Sunday evening. “I appreciate the Indian embassy in Rome for the release of 12 Indian sailors on board MV Aberdeen who were in jail in Italy since June 2014,” Ms Swaraj said. According to news agency reports, the Indian sailors had been arrested from aboard a ship seized by the Italian police in June 2014 and were accused of possessing a huge quantity of drugs.
Earlier, in the day, Ms Swaraj said that she was soon confident of a resolution that would see the release of Indian woman Judith D’Souza who was kidnapped in Afghanistan a few days ago.
Ms Swaraj also said she had received no proof that the 39 Indians kidnapped in Mosul, Iraq, two years ago, had been murdered. She said the search had been on for the kidnapped Indians for two years now but two high-ranking foreign dignitaries from west Asia had assured her the Indians were still alive. She said the word of a man who claimed the 39 had been killed had been denied by the relatives of the same men since one of those kidnapped had spoken to his relatives after the date on which they were alleged by the man to have been murdered. She said if she had received proof that the 39 men were dead, she would have folded her hands before the relatives and apologised.
The minister denied that she was giving any false assurances to the relatives.
