Weapons for Houthis, were discovered off the coast of Oman ‘on a route historically used to traffic illicit cargo to the Houthis in Yemen’, Navy says.
The US Navy says it seized more than 2,000 assault rifles from a ship in the Gulf of Oman it believes came from Iran and were bound for Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels.
The cargo was discovered on Friday off the coast of Oman, the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet said in a statement on Tuesday, noting the vessel “was crewed by six Yemeni nationals”.
“The illegal flow of weapons from Iran through international waterways has a destabilising effect on the region,” said General Michael Kurilla, CENTCOM commander.
“We are committed to the security and stability of the region and the enforcement of international law. Alongside our partner forces, CENTCOM will deter and interdict this kind of lethal material into the region whether it comes by air, land, or sea.”
The seizure happened last Friday after a team from the USS Chinook, a Cyclone-class coastal patrol boat, boarded a traditional wooden sailing vessel known as a dhow.
They discovered the Kalashnikov-style rifles individually wrapped in green tarps on board the ship, said Commander Timothy Hawkins, a navy spokesman.
“When we intercepted the vessel, it was on a route historically used to traffic illicit cargo to the Houthis in Yemen,” Hawkins said. “The Yemeni crew corroborated the origin.”
The Yemeni crew, Hawkins added, will be repatriated back to a government-controlled part of Yemen.
There was no immediate response from Iranian officials.
Experts examining photos released by the Navy said the weapons appeared to be Chinese-made T-56 rifles and Russian-made Molot AKS20Us. Type 56 rifles have been found in previously seized weapons caches. Similar green tarping also has been used.
