The issue of extradition of Niels Holck alias Kim Davy, the prime accused in the 1995 Purulia arms drop case, to India, has been resolved politically and independent authorities in his country are pursuing the matter, Denmark Prime Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen said Saturday.
The case relates to the incident on the night of December 17, 1995, when an AN-26 aircraft dropped arms and ammunition in West Bengal's Purulia district. The consignment had hundreds of AK-47 rifles, pistols, anti-tank grenades, rocket launchers and thousands of rounds of ammunition, according to investigators.
The crew consisted of five Latvian citizens and British national Peter Bleach all of whom were arrested. Davy, a Danish citizen and the prime accused in the case, had escaped, according to details of the probe.
Responding to a question on the status of the extradition of Davy, Rasmussen said the issue has been resolved politically.
"This problem has been solved in the political sense. There is a dialogue between authorities and what we (India and Denmark) agreed upon last year in April was we should rely on these independent authorities to do their work," he told reporters on the sidelines of opening of the Danish Cultural Institute here.
India has been seeking extradition of Davy and the Danish government had accepted India's request but he challenged the proceedings in a city court in Copenhagen which rejected the extradition.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with Rasmussen on Friday in Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, 2019 in Gandhinagar.
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"We did not touch upon the subject at all yesterday (in the meeting with Prime Minister Modi). The last we talked about it was in April in Stockholm," he said.
The bilateral meeting between the two leaders was held on the sidelines of the summit on Friday. They had earlier met during the first India-Nordic summit in Stockholm in April 2018.
During the meeting, Rasmussen said they deliberated upon various areas of bilateral cooperation and also exchanged views on multilateral issues of mutual interest.
Calling India a "very close friend" of Denmark, Rasmussen said that at these time of "uncertainty" there is a need to learn more about each other.
"Denmark values its friendship with India. We should take our friendship to higher level and opening of Danish Cultural Centre is a step towards it," he said.
On free trade, Rasmussen said Denmark is a true believer of it and said that at these times of "uncertainty" the EU should be among those advocating free trade.
"We are true believers of free trade specially at these times of uncertainty, the EU should be among those advocating free trade. We are double as open as we used to be. If you look at import and export then we are double as open and double as rich," he said.
The Danish prime minister is on a two-day visit to India from January 18 to 19, for the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, 2019 in Gandhinagar, where Denmark is participating as a 'partner country'.
Rasmussen is accompanied by a business delegation, including CEOs of major Danish companies, an External Affairs Ministry statement said.