NIA’s suspicion that the seven arrested foreigners were brought by drone from Europe via Myanmar has not been confirmed.

NIA’s suspicion that the seven arrested foreigners were brought by drone from Europe via Myanmar has not been confirmed.

NIA’s suspicion that the seven arrested foreigners were brought by drone from Europe via Myanmar has not been confirmed.

Aizawl: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has asked Mizoram to verify reports that seven foreigners arrested recently in Lucknow, Kolkata and Delhi had undergone arms and drone training in Myanmar’s Chin state between January end and February, a senior officer of the police intelligence branch said on Wednesday.The official said, although evidence of anti-India activity across the border has been found through “sources” in Chin State, what is even more worrying is how easily foreigners can enter Myanmar from Mizoram through the 404 km border the two countries share.“This is made easier by the absence of effective control by Myanmar’s military junta in Chin State, where the Chin National Front, Chin National Army and other Chin militias now have influence,” he said.The Tiau River, which forms part of the border, is currently so shallow that even children can cross it on foot.Foreigners entering Mizoram require a Protected Area Permit, which is a mandatory special travel document for all foreigners except Bhutanese nationals visiting specific security sensitive areas in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur, Mizoram and parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.Although local authorities are tightening enforcement, those already in the state face little difficulty entering Myanmar, the intelligence official said.The NIA’s suspicion that the seven arrested foreigners – six Ukrainians and a US national – were brought in drones from Europe via Myanmar has not been confirmed. But the entry of foreign mercenaries through Mizoram to train anti-coup armed groups fighting the junta is an established pattern, the official said.Concerns over this route came to light after the arrest of retired British SAS commando Daniel Newey at Lengpui airport in Aizawl on June 19, 2024. Police found a live bullet on him. Subsequent investigations indicated that Western mercenaries had entered Myanmar through Mizoram to provide weapons training to Chin armed groups.India has announced plans to fence the entire 1,643 km long border with Myanmar, which separates the junta-ruled country from Arunachal, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. Mizoram Police and intelligence agencies believe the move did not come a day earlier.

Indian flagged tanker Jag Ladki carrying crude oil imported from UAE reached Mundra port in Gujarat on Wednesday.

New Delhi: Amid the oil shortage, a tanker loaded with Russian crude, which is likely to land at New Mangalore port on Saturday, is generating a lot of interest, according to data from ship tracking website Marine Traffic.The ship, Aqua Titan, was originally headed for the Chinese port of Rizhao but diverted to India, news agency Bloomberg reported.It is unclear what caused the change, although the government said it was “unaware of such developments”.The Russian ship loaded cargo from the Baltic Sea port in late January, according to ship-tracking data.At least seven tankers carrying Russian oil have changed their destination while traveling from China to India, Bloomberg said, citing Vortexa data.Separately, the Suezmax Zouzou N is signaling India’s coin as its next destination with an estimated arrival date of March 25, ship-tracking data shows. According to Kpler, the tanker is carrying Kazakh CPC blend crude. It sailed from Novorossiysk on Russia’s Black Sea to Rzhava waters, before turning around in early March to head for India.The government has asked oil companies to buy and stockpile crude in view of the massive supply disruption caused by the blockage in the Strait of Hormuz.While India never stopped buying Russian oil, despite US claims, refiners led by Reliance Industries – the biggest beneficiary of subsidized oil – had gone slow on Rosneft and Lukoil following US sanctions. But with the US lifting the ban on high seas purchases, every country is now buying oil as per its requirement, trying to fill the gap created by the shortage of West Asian crude.India’s purchases of Russian crude rose by nearly 50% in March as refiners turned to alternative sources to overcome supply disruptions in the Persian Gulf.Special Secretary Shipping Rajesh Kumar Sinha said that of the 22 ships stranded on the western side of the Strait of Hormuz, 11 ships were carrying about 2 lakh tonnes of LNG, 16.7 lakh tonnes of crude oil and 3.2 lakh tonnes of LPG.

New Delhi: A gas you rarely think about is disrupting the MRI supply chain in India. Helium shortages linked to West Asia have tightened availability in India and driven up costs, increasing the risk of costly scans and delayed diagnoses.Since India is heavily dependent on imports from Qatar for non-renewable gas used to cool MRI magnets, hospitals and imaging centers are bracing for tight supplies, even as inventory remains low and global logistics have become unstable. Pawan Chaudhary, president of the Medical Technology Association of India, told TOI that with Qatar contributing almost one-third of the global supply, any sustained disruption will have a direct impact on MRI services and allied applications globally, and the early price signals are worrying. As a byproduct of natural gas processing, helium supply moves along with LNG production, so the disruption in Qatar is now making global availability difficult. Although there is no clearly visible disruption, the risks are clearly increasing. An executive at a medtech company said globalized medtech supply chains are vulnerable to prolonged volatility in West Asia and supply chain costs are rising rapidly. Additionally, since the supply of helium is naturally limited, many companies have moved towards developing helium-free MRI machines over the past few years.Hariharan Subramanian, Managing Director, Siemens Healthcare, said, “There has been limited impact on helium availability in view of the disruption due to geopolitical situation. We have already introduced helium free MRI with active adoption of DryCool technology. “This helium-efficient approach reduces gas dependency and minimizes service disruptions.” According to Arjun Arunachalam, founder of Bengaluru-based medtech startup VoxelGrids, although helium prices are around $80 per cubic meter in some markets, our company remains untouched because we manufacture helium-free imaging systems. Furthermore, the impact of the conflict has also spread to the domestic medical device industry, with manufacturers warning of possible shortages of essential hospital consumables including IV bags and lines, urine bags, cannulae, syringes as early as next month. With barely 15-20 days of inventory, manufacturers have warned of disruption in supplies to hospitals.The pressure has increased due to shortages of industrial gas used in boilers and rising energy costs, forcing companies to rely on more expensive diesel or electricity alternatives.