Ya Libnan

Egypt seizes Iranian ship carrying a huge quantity of arms

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flags egypt iran 2Egyptian maritime authorities seized an Iranian ship carrying a huge quantity of weapons heading for Egypt, NOW reported on Thursday.

The ship, which was seized about ten miles away from the Ras Mohammad national park in the Sinai peninsula reportedly was carrying more than 50,000 light and medium weapons as well a huge quantity of ammunitions.

Individuals from several nationalities, including Iranians, were on board the ship, the report said

The report also noted that the Egyptian authorities were still investigating to determine the final destination of the ship and whether it was heading for Gaza or aimed at arming insurgent groups in Sinai.

This development comes days after a report last monday said that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has lifted the visa requirements for Egyptian tourists visiting the Islamic republic of Iran and days

This also comes days after flights between Tehran and Cairo resumed for the first time in 34 years.

Update: Anatolia Turkish News Agency reported the ship which is registered as an Iranian fishing vessel under the name of “Sawit 1,” was seized Wednesday night about 12 miles off the coast.

Ten people of different nationalities were on board the ship said the Turkish report, which further stated that preliminary investigations revealed the ship was sailing toward the Egyptian territory.

In the ship’s hold 62,283 firearms were found, including sniper-rifles, AK-47s, RPGs and large quantity of ammunition.

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20 responses to “Egypt seizes Iranian ship carrying a huge quantity of arms”

  1. Patience2 Avatar
    Patience2

    Iran has shown itself to be ‘Dangerously Meddlesome’, Egypt would do well to sever relations with Iran until a wholesome change of regime takes place in Iran. (No more fuzzy-faces in government.)

    1. Moe28 Avatar
      Moe28

      Check the news you moron its not a Iranian ship nor Iranian arms its either Israeli or Saudi!

    2. dateam Avatar
      dateam

      are you talking about egypt or iran?

  2. Patience2 Avatar
    Patience2

    Iran has shown itself to be ‘Dangerously Meddlesome’, Egypt would do well to sever relations with Iran until a wholesome change of regime takes place there. (No more fuzzy-faces in government.)

    1. Moe28 Avatar
      Moe28

      Check the news you moron its not a Iranian ship nor Iranian arms its either Israeli or Saudi!

    2. dateam Avatar
      dateam

      are you talking about egypt or iran?

  3. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    Saw it … got it. #1.
    Definitely a good haul … the ‘tourist business’ must be booming – and only a week into it. 😉
    At least it wasn’t Israel stopping the ‘trade’ this time. :-))
    Probably some ‘supreme’ will claim it was a ‘pirated’ fishing boat from some poor fisherman, but it will be interesting to see which ‘other’ nationalities are ‘on board’.
    And some gun-runner somewhere is chugging down the scotch tonight … ( not me :-)))

  4. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    Saw it … got it. #1.
    Definitely a good haul … the ‘tourist business’ must be booming – and only a week into it. 😉
    At least it wasn’t Israel stopping the ‘trade’ this time. :-))
    Probably some ‘supreme’ will claim it was a ‘pirated’ fishing boat from some poor fisherman, but it will be interesting to see which ‘other’ nationalities are ‘on board’.
    And some gun-runner somewhere is chugging down the scotch tonight … ( not me :-)))

  5. Moe28 Avatar
    Moe28

    CAIRO, April 4 (Reuters) – Egyptian navy forces seized a ship carrying heavy weapons as it entered Egyptian territorial waters in the Red Sea late on Wednesday, a military spokesman said on Thursday.

    The Togolese-flagged ship, called COMR, was found 12 nautical miles north of Ras Muhammad in the Sinai Peninsula, general staff spokesman Ahmed Mohamed Ali said on his Facebook page.

    “Inside they found a number of weapons and quantities of ammunition of various types,” Ali said.

    “The boat belongs to a private maritime security company which serves to secure ships passing through highly dangerous areas, especially in light of the spread of piracy in the southern Red Sea area and off the Somali coast,” he added.

    Security sources told Reuters earlier that the ship, with a crew of at least seven, spent a week in international waters before entering Egyptian waters.

    The vessel was escorted into the port of Safaga, 569 km (356 miles) southeast of Cairo, where the crew members were being questioned and an investigation was under way to determine whether the weapons were legal, the sources said.

    “The weapons and ammunition seized in the vessel are linked to the nature of their work and the tasks assigned to them to secure commercial vessels,” Ali said in his statement.

    International shipping companies have begun to employ private security firms to ward off the threat of Somali pirates, with contractors often picking up weapons from ships off the coast of Djibouti as they enter the areas at risk.

    That, together with the presence international warships patrolling the Indian Ocean, has seen the number of successful pirate seizures of ships fall sharply to five ships in 2012, from 25 in 2011, and 27 in 2010. (Reporting by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Paul Taylor and Jon Hemming)

  6. Moe28 Avatar
    Moe28

    CAIRO, April 4 (Reuters) – Egyptian navy forces seized a ship carrying heavy weapons as it entered Egyptian territorial waters in the Red Sea late on Wednesday, a military spokesman said on Thursday.

    The Togolese-flagged ship, called COMR, was found 12 nautical miles north of Ras Muhammad in the Sinai Peninsula, general staff spokesman Ahmed Mohamed Ali said on his Facebook page.

    “Inside they found a number of weapons and quantities of ammunition of various types,” Ali said.

    “The boat belongs to a private maritime security company which serves to secure ships passing through highly dangerous areas, especially in light of the spread of piracy in the southern Red Sea area and off the Somali coast,” he added.

    Security sources told Reuters earlier that the ship, with a crew of at least seven, spent a week in international waters before entering Egyptian waters.

    The vessel was escorted into the port of Safaga, 569 km (356 miles) southeast of Cairo, where the crew members were being questioned and an investigation was under way to determine whether the weapons were legal, the sources said.

    “The weapons and ammunition seized in the vessel are linked to the nature of their work and the tasks assigned to them to secure commercial vessels,” Ali said in his statement.

    International shipping companies have begun to employ private security firms to ward off the threat of Somali pirates, with contractors often picking up weapons from ships off the coast of Djibouti as they enter the areas at risk.

    That, together with the presence international warships patrolling the Indian Ocean, has seen the number of successful pirate seizures of ships fall sharply to five ships in 2012, from 25 in 2011, and 27 in 2010. (Reporting by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Paul Taylor and Jon Hemming)

  7. Moe28 Avatar
    Moe28

    Yalibnan copied and pasted the right wing propagandist jerusalem post article blaming it on Iran when israel should be suspect.

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      Sounded like enough weapons to sink a ship, or a navy, let alone a fishing-boat from TOGO-LAND … slightly more than 10 guys needed to manage it … Reuters seems a better news source doesn’t it? Certainly gave it a better ‘purpose’. 😉
      I guess once again we should wait until ‘news’ is verified before saying anything … maybe ‘Egypt’ will actually make a statement one day? :-))
      Can’t find a mention of it on BBC …. curious, that …

  8. Moe28 Avatar
    Moe28

    Yalibnan copied and pasted the right wing propagandist jerusalem post article blaming it on Iran when israel should be suspect.

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      Sounded like enough weapons to sink a ship, or a navy, let alone a boat from TOGO-LAND … slightly more than 10 guys needed to manage it … Reuters seems a better news source doesn’t it? 😉
      I guess once again we should wait until ‘news’ is verified before saying anything … maybe ‘Egypt’ will actually make a statement one day? :-))

  9. IraniAngel Avatar
    IraniAngel

    this is a two way thing. if the west is allowed to arm terrorist groups and dictators in the ME, we as well are permitted to arm freedom fighters in gaza.

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      No.
      What makes you think anything in the Middle East is ‘two-way’ anyway??

      1. IraniAngel Avatar
        IraniAngel

        right, a moment of stupidity made me think that there are two way things in the ME. It won’t happen again. The US is solely determining our lives here.. this is so sad

  10. IraniAngel Avatar
    IraniAngel

    this is a two way thing. if the west is allowed to arm terrorist groups and dictators in the ME, we as well are permitted to arm freedom fighters in gaza.

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      No.
      What makes you think anything in the Middle East is ‘two-way’ anyway??

      1. IraniAngel Avatar
        IraniAngel

        right, a moment of stupidity made me think that there are two way things in the ME. It won’t happen agian. The US is solely determining our lives here.. this is so sad

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