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

An An-12 aircraft of Georgia was intercepted by the Indian Air Force after it entered Indian air space from Pakistan. (PTI Photo)

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.

#WATCH: Indian Air Force fighter jets force an Antonov AN-12 heavy cargo plane coming from Pakistani Air space to land at Jaipur airport. Questioning of pilots on. pic.twitter.com/esuGbtu9Tl

— ANI (@ANI) May 10, 2019

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, reported news agency PTI.

“Nothing suspicious was found in the investigation. The plane has been released,” Jaipur Additional Police Commissioner Laxman Gaur told PTI.