VILNIUS - Bangladesh has threatened not to cooperate with the Baltic country, accusing it of taking its time in returning helicopters that had been shipped to the AviaBaltika company for repair but were later detained as part of a national investigation.
According to the Lietuvos Zinios daily, the Lithuanian Embassy in Moscow received a letter from the defense department of the Embassy of Bangladesh, which is also situated in the Russian capital, asking for the prompt return of the three helicopters that were seized by Lithuanian customs officials.
The helicopters were transported to Kaunas-based AviaBaltika, headed by the infamous businessman Yury Borisov, for repair.
The three helicopters Mi-17 of the Bangladesh Air Force reached Lithuania last November, but customs officials noticed a discrepancy between the serial numbers of the aircraft's producer and the numbers indicated in an agreement between the Bangladesh Air Force and AviaBaltika.
The customs criminal service launched a pretrial investigation over the discrepancy.
Bangladeshi leadership subsequently requested information about the case. Officials from the Asian country claimed that their air force has always indicated the proper serial numbers on helicopters sent abroad for repair, though they do not always match those of the producer.
The issue was explained to the customs service on Jan. 19 of this year and in a note to the Lithuanian Embassy on March 25.
Meanwhile, the repair of helicopters that should have been completed long ago has not yet even started.
The letter from the Embassy of Bangladesh claims that the government has only a very limited number of helicopters, which are used for search and rescue operations in cases of natural disasters as well as to ferry high-ranking government officials.
Aidenas Karpus, head of the customs criminal service, has told the daily that the pretrial investigation has not yet been completed and expressed doubts about whether the letter from Bangladesh would have any effect on the course of the inquiry.
In Karpus' words, questions surrounding the discrepancy between the numbers in this case are easily solvable, but "there is a wide range of other issues that must be resolved."
