Gun-Running By Australian Airman?

Northern Advocate, 10 August 1948, Page 5

Gun-Running By Australian Airman?

NEW DELHI. Mon. (11 a.m.)—‘The Prime Minister (Mr Nehru) told Parliament that the Government was in touch with the Pakistan and United Kingdom Governments about a flight from Karachi to Hyderabad, in defiance of the Indian Government’s instructions, by an Australian, Sydney Cotton.

Mr Nehru added that the Indian Government “took a most serious view of Cotton’s direct contravention of international rules and of the Government’s own regulations.”

s Mr Nehru said negotiations between the three Governments concerned alleged night gun-running flights from Karachi to Hyderabad. Mr Nehru added that Cotton used five Lancastrian bombers, three bearing Br-itish markings and two Canadi ian markings. The Government considered that it would not be in the public interest to disclose what action it took to prevent Cotton’s plane flying over Indian territory. * He added that one of Cotton’s Lancastrians crashed recently. Cotton, though born in Australia, had been a resident of Britain since the end of the First World War, and negotiations which had been started with the Australian Government had been dropped. The British High Commissioner’s office said a plan was ready to evacuate 400 British nationals and others from Hyderabad State if necessary. The plan also covers some Americans, Canadians and Poles.