Italy guns for joint ballistic probe

KOCHI:  Italy has made a conditional offer to cooperate with the probe into the ballistic examination of the weapons used in the firing  by its Naval men from ‘Enrica Lexie’ resulting in the death of two Indian fishermen.“We are ready to cooperate with the ballistic examination by the Kerala Police, but it should be done in our presence,” Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Staffan de Mistura told reporters after visiting the two arrested Italian marines, Latorre Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone, at CISF Guest House in Thoppumpady here.However, he stuck to the stand that the firing took place in international waters.“The vessel was in international waters when the incident took place. It was 22.5 nautical miles off Kollam coast,” he said.The proposed seizure of arms from ‘Enrica Lexie’ that was to be conducted on Thursday was postponed as the ship could not be brought to the Kochi port. The police had objected to Italy’s demand that examination of the rifles should be conducted jointly by the authorities of both countries.According to the police, the ship could not be brought to Kochi port as another ship is already docked here.“We have been given green signal to dock ‘Enrica Lexie’ in the port. But since another ship was docked in the berth which was planned for the Italian ship, we have postponed it to Friday.“The ship would be brought to the port in the wee hours of Friday.“The port officials have informed that the berth will be vacant by Thursday night. The examination of the ship and the weapons would be conducted in the coming days,” a police official said.“The court verdict to extend the remand period of the accused in the police custody will help us,” the official added.