Modi Asks Denmark to Extradite Purulia Arms Drop Accused Kim Davy

Unauthorised arms were dropped from an Antonov An-26 aircraft in 1995 in West Bengal’s Purulia district. (Photo: Liju Joseph/The Quint)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met Danish minister Lars Christian Lilleholt on the sidelines of the Vibrant Gujarat summit, and raised the issue of Purulia arms drop accused Kim Davy's extradition, an official said.

Modi, in his meeting with Lilleholt, raised the issue of Kim Davy's extradition and hoped that Denmark would take into account India's sensitivities and extend full cooperation, said External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

The Danish minister assured that Denmark was apprised of the matter.

Davy is the key accused in the Purulia arms drop case of 1995, in which unauthorised arms were dropped from an Antonov An-26 aircraft in West Bengal’s Purulia district.

The dropped consignment had hundreds of AK-47 rifles, anti-tank grenades, pistols, rocket launchers and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Through his sources, The Quint’s Chandan Nandy found that the end users of the cache were the Kachin Independence Army.

Also Read: Purulia Arms Drop: 20 Years On, the Sleeping Dogs Continue to Lie

In December 2016, India sent an extradition request to Denmark for Kim Davy (aka Niels Holck), five years after the previous request had been shot down by a court in Copenhagen.

Modi also expressed his gratitude for Denmark's support to India's membership of Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Modi told the Danish minister that India had set ambitious targets for combating climate change in COP21 with plans to install 175GW of renewable energy capacity, where Denmark could be a valuable partner.

He said that new innovation was needed in the wind energy sector and also advocated a hybrid model where they could get benefit from both solar and wind energy during day and night through an integrated system.

(With inputs from IANS)