Foreign Office on Saturday rubbished Indian media reports claiming “seizure of possible radioactive material” by Indian port authorities.

FO spokesperson Asim Iftikhar responded to questions from the press about reports in Indian media claiming “seizure of possible radioactive material” by Indian port authorities on shipping containers of a commercial vessel loaded from Karachi Port.

He said: “We have noted the reports in the Indian media about ‘seizure of possible radioactive material’ by Indian port authorities at the Mundra Port on containers loaded on a Shanghai bound commercial vessel from Karachi Port.

"In this regard, the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant authorities had informed that these were empty containers being returned to China which were earlier used for the transportation of fuel from China to Karachi for K-2 and K-3 Nuclear Power Plants. Both K-2 and K-3 Nuclear Power Plants and fuel used in these plants were under the IAEA safeguards. The containers were “empty” and the cargo was correctly declared as Non-Hazardous in the shipping documents."

"The reporting by the Indian media about “seizure of possible radioactive material” was factually incorrect, baseless, laughable and a usual ploy of the Indian media to malign Pakistan and mislead the international community," Iftikhar added.

In his briefing, the spokesperson said fake reporting by Indian media was indicative of a malafide intent to twist procedural customs issues to bring into disrepute IAEA safeguarded nuclear power program.

According to an Indian publication, Times Now News, an Indian joint Customs and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence team seized several containers loaded with radioactive material at Mundra Port in Gujarat from a foreign vessel going from Karachi in Pakistan to Shanghai in China.

"The Adani Ports and Logistics on Friday stated that the cargo was listed as non-hazardous but the seized containers had hazard Class 7 markings (which indicate radioactive substances)," read the report.