Breaking News
Seized Weapons Would Have Eventually Killed Americans
Photo by Royal Australian Navy
- More than 2,000 weapons were found aboard a small fishing boat bound for Somalia by an Australian Navy ship.
- The weapons are believed to be sent from Iran with the intended destination of Yemen to aid the Shiite rebels fighting in the civil war there.
- The weapons are being sent to the U.S. for documentation and disposal.
- The task force did not have the authority to detain or arrest the sailors in International water and they were released.
More than 2,000 weapons including assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and mortar tubes were found hidden under nets aboard a small fishing boat bound for Somalia, American and Australian officials said Monday.
A team from Australian frigate HMAS Darwin discovered the cache last month some 195 miles off the coast of Oman.
The U.S. Navy believes the boat had set off from Iran and that the crew were Iranian, Lt. Ian McConnaughey, a spokesman for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, told NBC News in an email.
McConnaughey said an initial assessment indicated the weapons were destined for Yemen to be used by Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels in the country's civil war.
The weapons were discovered aboard a dhow on Feb. 27 but the find was only announced Monday.
The guns were seized under United Nations sanctions the prohibit the delivery of illegal arms to Somalia. They are expected to be transferred to U.S. custody for further analysis and disposal, McConnaughey added.
The Australian ship that found the hoard was part of Combined Task Force 150 – an anti-terror, piracy, and smuggling operation whose membership include the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and others.
It uncovered 1,989 AK-47 assault rifles, 100 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, 49 PKM machine guns, 39 PKM spare barrels and 20 mortar tubes, according to a statement from the Australian Navy.
The task force does not have authority to detain traffickers in international waters and the crew of the dhow was released after the weapons were seized.
Yemen is locked in conflict between the Shiite Houthi rebels, who are allied with Iran, and the internationally recognized government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia said in October that it had intercepted another fishing boat laden with weapons destined to be used by the Houthis, according to Reuters.
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20 Comments
Iran is sworn enemy of u.s.
I’m sure the reason the Iranians didn’t get detained they probably know POTUS personally
Should have allowed the American people buy them.
Oh, we do buy them! And then give them to ISIS!
You can not say that every gun would be used to kill anyone a lot of guns are under Lock and Key ,which all should be some guns are only collected by a collector of Guns and they are not irresponsible people we do not need Gov’t involved in every aspect of our lives
Because every one of them has made it clear that they want to kill every Christian they can get there hands on. Do you understand what i just said?
Seized from where if seized from the American people then no they shouldn’t be destroyed if seized from the middle east then that’s a diff story
It would seem likely that any arms sent to warring factions in the middle east will eventually be used to kill Americans, their #1 enemy before using the weapons to kill their own countrymen, civil war or not.
What’s with the inflamed, untrue, headline? Just tell me, how do you know that every bullet had an American name on it? Are the US Military involved in Yemen?
Glad the Aussies caught them..but what kind of operation is this, that they cannot arrest the Iranians?
And to the guy who wrote on the FACEBOOK section of this page…If it had been Putin, he would have killed them all…nope…Russia and Iran are allies!
common sense
Obviously at some point ONE or more of these weapons would have been used in a crime resulting in the death of an innocent person….
Iran is a terrorist nation.
Just terrorists supplying their terrorist brethren.
So true
Is it not obvious what is going on in this world against America. Duhh. Wake up America. Take action. Preventive not reactionary.
Australia has plenty of experience with gun demolition. Sending them to the United States they are likely to wind up on American streets killing Americans here.
terrorist giving support to other terrorist who goal is to kill Americans and Christians
Yemen is one of the poorest countries, period. Saudi Arabia has a full-scale assault on them. They just want to be left alone and not suffer under wahhabism. Iran is trying to support them since they are also of the shia sect. I think is a REAL stretch to say that just these 2,000 weapons would be used against the USA. They are dirt poor and have little to fight back with against the Saudis.
We have more to worry about our self-inflicted ISIS than Yemen.
Muslims hate the U.S., our citizens, and free people in general! They’d love to wipe us all out!
The entire middle East is terrorist oriented. How many times has Iran made promises to the U.S. and then turned away from those promises and shown us that they will say what is needed just to get what they want and then use it against us? They CANNOT BE TRUSTED!