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Europe
Report: German Ship Halted With Weapons For Syria
2012-04-15
German ship stopped after owners discover it's carrying Iranian weapons to Syria regime

Germany's government said Saturday it is looking into a report that weapons bound for the Syrian regime were loaded onto a German-owned ship.
 
German weekly Der Spiegel reported that the Atlantic Cruiser was halted in the Mediterranean after its owners were warned it was suspected to be carrying Iranian military equipment to Tartus, Syria, where it was supposed to arrive Friday.

Der Spiegel quoted shipping agent Torsten Lueddeke of Hamburg-based CEG Bulk Chartering as saying: "We stopped the ship after we received information on the weapons cargo."
 
He said the ship had been chartered to an Odessa, Ukraine-based company called White Whale Shipping and "they declared to us as cargo above all pumps and things like that," according to the report. "We would never have allowed weapons on board."
 
The ship's current whereabouts weren't clear. Der Spiegel -- which reported that the suspect cargo was loaded in Djibouti -- said it had changed course for Iskenderun, Turkey, on Friday and then stopped about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Tartus and sailed in circles.
Perhaps it's not just weapons they're shipping from Iran...

The Jerusalem Post adds:
The ship, which had been chartered by a Ukrainian shipping company, was delivering weapons to Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
, who has been coping with 11-month-long mass protests against his rule According to the report, the German government's economic ministry has announce that it will investigate any and all smuggling attempts.

The ship was initially identified by Syrian defectors who alerted the German company of the illegal cargo aboard, the report stated.

This is not the first time a German vessel has been used to smuggle Iranian arms. In March 2011, the Israeli navy seized the Victoria fat merchantman as it was sailing off Israel's coast on its way to Egypt while flying a Liberian flag. The ship was carrying 50 tons of weaponry destined for Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, including advanced Iranian-made radar-guided anti-ship missiles.

The Iranian regime does not confine its weapons smuggling to German vessels. In November 2009, Israel also intercepted the Francop ship, which was sailing near Cyprus on its way to Syria. Flying an Antiguan flag, the vessel was found to be carrying around 500 tons of weaponry, including long-range Katyusha rockets.

In January, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz said he was working to recruit countries from around the world to help combat what he called the "transatlantic smuggling" of weaponry from Iran to its terror proxies in the region..
Posted by:trailing wife

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