A TUTICORN court, in Tamil Nadu, has found 35 shipboard armed guards guilty of possessing prohibited firearms and sentenced them to five years in prison, Reuters reports.
The crew, which included men from the Ukraine, Estonia and six ex-British soldiers, was arrested from the Seaman Guard Ohio in 2013 after they failed to produce papers authorising them to carry weapons.
The Seaman Guard Ohio is a floating armoury ship owned AdvanFort and used for storing weapons and security guards on private anti-piracy contracts.
In October 2013, the ship was impounded and the crew and armed guards aboard were detained after it entered Indian waters with illegal arms without adequate permission.
The Sierre Leone-flagged ship, a former Japanese built fishery patrol boat, is engaged in providing commercial anti-piracy protection services to merchant vessels.
This judgment is totally unfair and a great injustice to the accused, Arumugaram Ravipandian, a lawyer representing all 35 crew members told Reuters.
Mr Ravipandian said his clients would seek bail and challenge the verdict in a higher court.
The crew, that spent nine months in prison after the incident, has been out on bail but not allowed to leave India since 2013.
Paul Towers, a former British soldier among those convicted, said the weapons on board their ship were properly registered.
"We are speaking to our consulate - this is not justice," said Mr Towers.
The British High Commission in New Delhi said it was providing consular assistance but could not interfere in another country's judicial process.
Our staff in India and the UK have been in close contact with all six men since their arrest to provide support to them and their families, including attending court, it said in a statement.
Action by the Indian authorities has led to diplomatic rows in similar cases. Relations between India and Italy soured after a 2012 incident in which two Italian marines allegedly killed two Indian fishermen mistakenly believed to be pirates.
WORLD SHIPPING
15 January 2016 - 21:20
Indian court jails 25 shipboard armed guards 5 years for illegal arms
A TUTICORN court, in Tamil Nadu, has found 35 shipboard armed guards guilty of possessing prohibited firearms and sentenced them to five years in prison
WORLD SHIPPING
15 January 2016 - 21:20
Indian court jails 25 shipboard armed guards 5 years for illegal arms
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