The U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet said today that U.S. forces recently seized a large quantity of illegal Russian and Chinese weapons aboard a stateless sailing ship in the international waters of the North Arabian Sea.
The Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said the USS Monterey, a guided missile cruiser, intercepted the sailing vessel during a two-day operation on May 6 and 7 and conducted a routine boarding and inspection, seizing a large quantity of weapons, AFP reported.
The statement said, “The weapons included dozens of Russian-made advanced anti-tank missiles, thousands of Chinese Type 56 automatic rifles, and hundreds of PKM machine guns, sniper rifles, and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.”
The statement mentioned that the weapons are now in U.S. custody and their origin and destination are still under investigation; the U.S. assessed the sailboat’s seaworthiness after all illegal cargo was removed and provided the crew with food and water after interrogating them before releasing them.
The statement did not specify the possible departure point of the sailing ship, but mentioned that the U.S. Navy regularly patrols the region and “disrupts the transport of illegal cargo, which is often used to finance terrorist and illegal activities.”
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