Bio-truck arrested in India
Discussion
I received the text below in an e-mail today. It is absolutely genuine. I know Andy, I met him at a Royal Geographical Society expedition planning seminar in 2008. I was planning my Overland to Oz trip and he was planning this Bio-truck expedition.
Despite his green campaigning Andy is an out and out Petrolhead and has been organising expeditions like this round the world for 15 years; including the now well known "Grease to Greece" event....driving old bangers to Greece powered by chip fat. He loves cars and driving but cares deeply about the environment too and does a lot of research into alternative fuels. The idea that he could be involved in any kind of terrorist activity is frankly ridiculous! The text below explains but in brief he was arrested in India for carrying a Satelite Phone. He's been released on bail but can not leave the country until after the trial and there is no time limit on when that could be so he is stuck!
I was stopped by corrupt police in India who falsely accused us of speeding and not wearing seat belts to try and extract money from us. They also took a good look in the car and I'm sure if I could have afforded to be carrying a Sat-phone then this could easily have been me. I'm not sure what good sending the e-mail he's written below to the various authorities will do but it's worth a go, even if it only speeds things up for him. I doubt he is getting much help from the British Embassy, they were no help to me when I was effectively being held to ransom by my tour company in China!
Anyway, over to Andy
http://www.biotruckexpedition.com/
I’m launching this email petition and hoping that everyone that’s been so supportive already, will help by sending the email below to the Indian High Commissioners in London and in Rome, as well as to the only email address I could find for the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Please add your name and home town at the bottom and of course you can edit the contents as you see fit. Tell your friends about it (facebook it, tweet it, talk about it at work...) and invite them to send emails too. Hopefully if enough people send it, it will have an impact.
This is my last resort and I hope it will motivate the officer to complete his investigation. There is no legal time limit. It’s already been 6 weeks, and until they do I am trapped in India.
Thanks for your help.
To: websitemhaweb@nic.in; administration@hcilondon.in; gen.email@indianembassy.it
Subject: The Case of Andrea Pagnacco (aka Andy Pag).
For the attention of:
Mr P. Chiemdambaram, The Indian Minister of Home Affairs
Mr. Nalin Surie, The Indian High Commissioner in London,
And the Indian Ambassador in Rome
Sirs
Andrea Pagnacco (publicly known as Andy Pag) was arrested for possession of a satellite phone in Pushkar and charged under anti-terrorism laws. After 7 days in prison he was released on bail after the judge criticised police for their approach and ruled there was no evidence to suggest he was a national security risk.
Now after 6 weeks, the police have still not submitted a chargesheet to the court, missing the dates of 5 hearings set by the judge. Until they do, Mr Pagnacco is held on bail unable to leave India.
Mr Pagnacco provided the final piece of evidence to Investigating Officer Superintendent Tak of Ajmer Police, Rajasthan 3 weeks ago; an email correspondence from the satellite phone operator confirming his phone has not been used in India. Its authenticity is simple to confirm with a phone call, fax or email.
However SP Tak has publicly stated that he is too busy with local elections. This is surprising considering that he drafted in over 100 officers for the investigation on the day of arrest, but now has no manpower to conclude it.
Please can you request that the Ministry of Home Affairs confirm with Additional Superintendent Tak of Ajmer Police (Mobile +919414173337, Office +91 145 262 7700) that this investigation is proceeding at an appropriate pace.
Thank you for your understanding and help in this matter.
Despite his green campaigning Andy is an out and out Petrolhead and has been organising expeditions like this round the world for 15 years; including the now well known "Grease to Greece" event....driving old bangers to Greece powered by chip fat. He loves cars and driving but cares deeply about the environment too and does a lot of research into alternative fuels. The idea that he could be involved in any kind of terrorist activity is frankly ridiculous! The text below explains but in brief he was arrested in India for carrying a Satelite Phone. He's been released on bail but can not leave the country until after the trial and there is no time limit on when that could be so he is stuck!
I was stopped by corrupt police in India who falsely accused us of speeding and not wearing seat belts to try and extract money from us. They also took a good look in the car and I'm sure if I could have afforded to be carrying a Sat-phone then this could easily have been me. I'm not sure what good sending the e-mail he's written below to the various authorities will do but it's worth a go, even if it only speeds things up for him. I doubt he is getting much help from the British Embassy, they were no help to me when I was effectively being held to ransom by my tour company in China!
Anyway, over to Andy
http://www.biotruckexpedition.com/
I’m launching this email petition and hoping that everyone that’s been so supportive already, will help by sending the email below to the Indian High Commissioners in London and in Rome, as well as to the only email address I could find for the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Please add your name and home town at the bottom and of course you can edit the contents as you see fit. Tell your friends about it (facebook it, tweet it, talk about it at work...) and invite them to send emails too. Hopefully if enough people send it, it will have an impact.
This is my last resort and I hope it will motivate the officer to complete his investigation. There is no legal time limit. It’s already been 6 weeks, and until they do I am trapped in India.
Thanks for your help.
To: websitemhaweb@nic.in; administration@hcilondon.in; gen.email@indianembassy.it
Subject: The Case of Andrea Pagnacco (aka Andy Pag).
For the attention of:
Mr P. Chiemdambaram, The Indian Minister of Home Affairs
Mr. Nalin Surie, The Indian High Commissioner in London,
And the Indian Ambassador in Rome
Sirs
Andrea Pagnacco (publicly known as Andy Pag) was arrested for possession of a satellite phone in Pushkar and charged under anti-terrorism laws. After 7 days in prison he was released on bail after the judge criticised police for their approach and ruled there was no evidence to suggest he was a national security risk.
Now after 6 weeks, the police have still not submitted a chargesheet to the court, missing the dates of 5 hearings set by the judge. Until they do, Mr Pagnacco is held on bail unable to leave India.
Mr Pagnacco provided the final piece of evidence to Investigating Officer Superintendent Tak of Ajmer Police, Rajasthan 3 weeks ago; an email correspondence from the satellite phone operator confirming his phone has not been used in India. Its authenticity is simple to confirm with a phone call, fax or email.
However SP Tak has publicly stated that he is too busy with local elections. This is surprising considering that he drafted in over 100 officers for the investigation on the day of arrest, but now has no manpower to conclude it.
Please can you request that the Ministry of Home Affairs confirm with Additional Superintendent Tak of Ajmer Police (Mobile +919414173337, Office +91 145 262 7700) that this investigation is proceeding at an appropriate pace.
Thank you for your understanding and help in this matter.
He certainly has managed to travel a fair way before anyone in India has decided to make an issue of this.
One has to wonder how much coffee money was asked for and refused before the arresting officer decided to make such a case of this (either that or its something that he thinks will work well in some sort of local political campaign)
Anyway, nothing that can help him here?
http://ukinindia.fco.gov.uk/en/
or
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/...
They have always been very helpful in getting me out of the smelly when overseas on those odd occasions.
edit, just read some of the blog and understand some of the issue now, your mate Andy is dual nationality, and unfortunately chose to get stamped into India under his Italian Passport, therefore the British High Comission does not have any right or authority to act on his behalf, he is at the mercy of the Italian EMbassy
One has to wonder how much coffee money was asked for and refused before the arresting officer decided to make such a case of this (either that or its something that he thinks will work well in some sort of local political campaign)
Anyway, nothing that can help him here?
http://ukinindia.fco.gov.uk/en/
or
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/...
They have always been very helpful in getting me out of the smelly when overseas on those odd occasions.
edit, just read some of the blog and understand some of the issue now, your mate Andy is dual nationality, and unfortunately chose to get stamped into India under his Italian Passport, therefore the British High Comission does not have any right or authority to act on his behalf, he is at the mercy of the Italian EMbassy
Edited by XJSJohn on Wednesday 24th February 01:16
Oh dear, that's him screwed then, the Italians are even less likely to get involved than the Brits!
I had a horrible experience in China. We had to employ a tour company, by Chinese law. When we arrived in Lhasa, about half way through our tour, our guide from a company called NAVO, announced that we could not continue and would have to put our car on a truck to the Laos border and we would have to fly out and meet it. Oh and we would have to pay them another £1,000 on top of the £5,000 we had already paid them for this service! Their reason for this was because they said the road they had planned for us to drive on was only suitable for 4x4's. They knew what car we were bringing, had every detail about it plus photos before we arrived and yet they had still arranged a tour for us which only provided permits for a road they deemed unsuitable! They refused to let us continue driving or even try and get us permits for an alternate route. The only option they would offer was us paying them £1,000 for truck transport out of the country which would put us well behind schedule, plus the cost of our flights which as there are no direct flights from Lhasa to Laos were expensive!
We were effectively being held to ransom by a corrupt company. of course I contacted the British Embassy and I'm ashamed to say it was a complete waste of time and just caused even more stress and frustration. They either could not ot would not offer any help. My co-driver was an American and the American embassy were a little more help but not much. they did at least make a few phone calls and put pressure on the company, it just didn't help. So I have little faith in embassies, from what I can tell the ambassadors are just on a free G and T binge abroad! If you get in s
t abroad you are on your own!
In India the police first tried to fine us for not wearing seat belts. We said "what are these then?" pointing at the seat belts we were wearing. My co-driver also pointed to a Tuk-tuk with 10 people hanging on to the outside and more crammed inside and asked "where are their seat belts?". The "officer of the law" then accused us of speeding. I pointed out that our car, a Baja Beetle was only capable of 50mph and asked to see proof on his speed camera. Of course he couldn't provide this and eventually backed down saying "This time I just give you warning"!
Ok, rant over, I should also point out that I have had many positive experiences when travelling too. By far the friendliest countries I have driven through are Mongolia, Laos, Iran and pakistan. I loved that although pakistan for me was a completely foreign environment, there was also an underlying love of the British and Britishness. A love of Tea and cricket which when you are so far from home can't help but make you smile. I was provided with police escorts while close to the Afghan border and passed through many army check points. They made me tea, gave me water and fruit and even invited me to join their meals. I promised the TV crew who interviewed me there that I would tell everyone how welcoming pakistan is so there you go!
As a woman travelling alone(my co-driver by-passed Iran and re-joined me in Lahore) I couldn't have felt safer or more welcome, I even had children shouting "I love you" when I drove past....of course they may have been talking to my car!
This is how many people insisted on helping when I got a puncture!
I had a horrible experience in China. We had to employ a tour company, by Chinese law. When we arrived in Lhasa, about half way through our tour, our guide from a company called NAVO, announced that we could not continue and would have to put our car on a truck to the Laos border and we would have to fly out and meet it. Oh and we would have to pay them another £1,000 on top of the £5,000 we had already paid them for this service! Their reason for this was because they said the road they had planned for us to drive on was only suitable for 4x4's. They knew what car we were bringing, had every detail about it plus photos before we arrived and yet they had still arranged a tour for us which only provided permits for a road they deemed unsuitable! They refused to let us continue driving or even try and get us permits for an alternate route. The only option they would offer was us paying them £1,000 for truck transport out of the country which would put us well behind schedule, plus the cost of our flights which as there are no direct flights from Lhasa to Laos were expensive!
We were effectively being held to ransom by a corrupt company. of course I contacted the British Embassy and I'm ashamed to say it was a complete waste of time and just caused even more stress and frustration. They either could not ot would not offer any help. My co-driver was an American and the American embassy were a little more help but not much. they did at least make a few phone calls and put pressure on the company, it just didn't help. So I have little faith in embassies, from what I can tell the ambassadors are just on a free G and T binge abroad! If you get in s
t abroad you are on your own!In India the police first tried to fine us for not wearing seat belts. We said "what are these then?" pointing at the seat belts we were wearing. My co-driver also pointed to a Tuk-tuk with 10 people hanging on to the outside and more crammed inside and asked "where are their seat belts?". The "officer of the law" then accused us of speeding. I pointed out that our car, a Baja Beetle was only capable of 50mph and asked to see proof on his speed camera. Of course he couldn't provide this and eventually backed down saying "This time I just give you warning"!
Ok, rant over, I should also point out that I have had many positive experiences when travelling too. By far the friendliest countries I have driven through are Mongolia, Laos, Iran and pakistan. I loved that although pakistan for me was a completely foreign environment, there was also an underlying love of the British and Britishness. A love of Tea and cricket which when you are so far from home can't help but make you smile. I was provided with police escorts while close to the Afghan border and passed through many army check points. They made me tea, gave me water and fruit and even invited me to join their meals. I promised the TV crew who interviewed me there that I would tell everyone how welcoming pakistan is so there you go!
As a woman travelling alone(my co-driver by-passed Iran and re-joined me in Lahore) I couldn't have felt safer or more welcome, I even had children shouting "I love you" when I drove past....of course they may have been talking to my car!This is how many people insisted on helping when I got a puncture!
Gassing Station | Asia | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff