For the third time in recent weeks, international naval forces operating in the waters of the Arabian Sea seized a shipment of illicit arms.
The US Navy coastal patrol ship USS Sirocco intercepted and seized the shipment of weapons hidden aboard a small, stateless dhow.
The illicit cargo is said to have included 1,500 AK-47s, 200 RPG launchers and 21 .50 caliber machine guns, according to the US Navy.
“The weapons are now in US custody awaiting final disposition. The dhow and its crew were allowed to depart once the illicit weapons were seized,” a US Navy spokesman said.
This seizure is the latest in a string of illicit weapons shipments assessed by the US to have originated in Iran that were seized in the region by naval forces.
The Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Darwin intercepted a dhow in late February, confiscating nearly 2,000 AK-47 assault rifles, 100 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, 49 general purpose machine guns and 20 60mm mortar tubes.
A March 20 seizure by the French Navy destroyer FS Provence yielded almost 2,000 AK-47 assault rifles, 64 sniper rifles, nine anti-tank missiles and other associated equipment.
Both shipments were said to have been bound for the former piracy hotspot of Somalia.
In late January the shipping industry was warned that it faced an increased risk of piracy off Somalia this year due to the deteriorating political conditions in the country, according to a report by IHS Inc.
“Conditions that led regional politicians to provide safe havens between 2005 and 2012 for hijacked ships to be stored during lengthy ransom negotiations are being recreated in Somalia’s Galmudug region,” the US-based research firm said.
“This means that Somali pirates, who still have the technical capabilities, manpower, weaponry and financing networks to organize deep-water hijacks, may soon regain the secure ship-storage locations required to resume operations.”
