UNIPATH STAFF
The Yemeni Coast Guard uncovered a plot to smuggle 40 tons of weapons, including sophisticated missiles and explosives, into the country. Coast Guard officials intercepted a dhow carrying the weapons on January 23, 2013, off the country’s eastern coast.
“This is the most dangerous arms shipment being smuggled to Yemen,” Yemeni Deputy Interior Minister Abdel-Rahman Hanash told Reuters. “It contained anti-aircraft missiles, C-4 high explosives materials, which only a few countries in the Middle East possess.”
Arms onboard the vessel, named the Jehan1, were destined for extremists operating in Yemen with the goal of undermining stability and security. The eight sailors on board were taken into custody.
“The seized explosives would claim lives of millions of Yemeni civilians, if they were handed over to those whom the shipment was destined for,” said Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Abd al-Qadir Qahtan, according to the Yemen News Agency (SABA).
The weapons were hidden inside four containers housed in one of the ship’s diesel tanks. The cache included items such as 122 mm Katyusha rockets, Strela anti-aircraft missiles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, night vision goggles and powerful explosives such as C-4 and RDX.
Ali al-Ahmadi, Yemen’s National Security Bureau chief, said that the type of arms confiscated from the ship are designed for remote assassination and massive destruction, much different than the pistols and light machine guns that lower-level criminals use in their trade. This leads him to believe organized bodies are behind the smuggling attempt. “Such shipments could not be smuggled by arm dealers or saboteurs,” Ahmadi told SABA.
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Abdullah al-Qirbi said the government will not allow violations to its sovereignty and will not allow the country to become a place for proxy wars, according to SABA.