Vessels weapon room resembled military armoury

KOCHI: The Italian weapons were protected in two vaults in the Italian vessel, Enrica Lexie. Though the marines were in the ship to safeguard the vessel, the weapon room resembled a perfect Military armoury. One of the police personnel who was a part of the search and seizure procedure said that, the Italians had perfectly documented all the weapons. “Even the small bullets had been documented and they were accounted with the Italian Navy if used. The chamber was located in two decks below the captains navigating area called bridge. This was not revealed first by the captain. It was only after constant questioning over the past ten days that the captain showed it to the Customs and police officials. It was the Customs officials who sealed the chamber,” police said.“The first chamber had eight guns-six assault rifles and two light machine guns. It also had six bullet-proof jackets. The marines usually keep the bullets and other ammunition in the jacket. We have taken the jackets also into custody so that the ammunition used by the two marines could be identified. We have taken all the arms and ammunition in the first wallet into custody,” police said.The second chamber had only short guns, pistols, used bullets and personal belongings of the marines. “Though there were some weapons in the second vault, we did not take them. The weapons were transported in two black boxes and documents were transported in two other boxes,” the police official said.