New Delhi:After keeping a stateless and unmarked dhow under watch in the northern Arabian Sea for about 36 hours, US Navy personnel from the missile cruiser Monterey boarded the vessel on May 6-7 and seized a huge consignment of modern weapons.
While the US Navy did not give out the exact location where the dhow was seized, the sweep of the area would be in the international waters near the Pakistan coast to the Iran coast.
The northern Arabian Sea is a global hotspot for gunrunning and narcotics trade.
This is also a swath that is girdled by countries with a volatile security environment raging from civil wars, religious terrorism to insurgencies that is further complicated by illegal trade and transporting of narcotics.
Investigations are on as to the origin and destination of the deadly cargo with possibilities of the destination ranging from Pakistan to Iran to the troubled African countries of Yemen and Somalia.
A US Navy statement said: “The cache of weapons included dozens of advanced Russian-made anti-tank guided missiles, thousands of Chinese Type 56 assault rifles, and hundreds of PKM machine guns, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades launchers. Other weapon components included advanced optical sights.”
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The US Fifth Fleet, whose ship USS Monterey and its embarked U.S. Coast Guard Advanced Interdiction Team (AIT) were involved in the operation, said it “discovered the illicit cargo during a routine flag verification boarding conducted in international water in accordance with customary international law”.
“After all illicit cargo was removed, the dhow was assessed for seaworthiness, and after questioning, its crew was provided food and water before being released.”
Last year too, the US Navy had detained an Iranian ship in the Arabian Sea that was found to be carrying 150 anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM), Iranian surface-to-air missiles, thermal imaging weapon sights, components for drones and surface ships, and other ammunition.
As recently as April 15, 2021, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), in a joint intelligence-based operation with ATS Gujarat, seized a Pakistani boat off Gujarat’s Jakhau, recovering 30 kg of pure heroin.
On March 18, 2021, the ICG had recovered 300 Kg of heroin, five AK-47 rifles and 1,000 rounds of ammunition near the Lakshadweep Island from a vessel. The cargo is believed to have been loaded at Pakistan’s Makran coast.
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