IAF intercepts An-12 aircraft coming from Pakistan, forced to land at Jaipur airfield

New Delhi: An Antonov An-12 aircraft from Pakistan’s Karachi, airborne for Delhi, deviated from its scheduled path and entered the Indian airspace, the Indian Air Force said in a statement. The aircraft was intercepted by IAF Air Defence aircraft and forced to land at Jaipur airfield.The aircraft entered the Indian airspace from an unscheduled point in north Gujarat, IAF statement said.
The aircraft did not follow the authorized Air Traffic Services (ATS) route and was not responding to radio calls from Indian controlling agencies, a Defence Ministry statement said.
It neither responded on international distress frequency nor to visual signals during interception, the statement added.
The Ministry said that when the Air Force officials tried to challenge, the aircraft informed that it was a non-schedule aircraft airborne from Tbilisi (Georgia) for Delhi via Karachi.
The crew members of the cargo aircraft, which entered Indian airspace at 3:15 pm, were questioned at Jaipur, they said, adding the investigation lasted several hours and the plane was being allowed to leave, said a media report.
“Nothing suspicious was found in the investigation. The plane has been released,” Jaipur Additional Police Commissioner Laxman Gaur said.