The US embassy in Nicosia said Washington was not involved.
Cyprus Does this stuff on their own , The U.S. doesn't need to get involved .
Somebody want's to kick it up a notch in Sudan ? Maybe Darfur ?
BBC
Cyprus has barred a ship carrying military equipment from leaving until inspectors confirm its cargo does not breach UN and EU arms embargos.
Commerce Minister Antonis Paschalides told Cyprus Radio there was "prohibited material" on board the Santiago, such as explosives and military equipment.
The manifest of the vessel says it was sailing to Sudan and Singapore.
The EU bans arms shipments to Sudan, while there is a UN embargo on armed groups in the nation's Darfur region.
Two rounds of north-south civil war since the 1960s have cost the lives of about 1.5 million people.
Meanwhile, a continuing conflict in Darfur has driven more than 2.6 million people from their homes and killed 300,000, according to the UN.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Cyprus detains 'Sudan-bound arms ship'
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Thailand seizes arms on plane from North Korea
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai authorities seized more than 35 tons of arms from a cargo plane they said had come from North Korea, and arrested its five crew members after the aircraft made an emergency landing at a Bangkok airport.
Interesting is this , As North Korea hints at getting back to Nuclear disarmament talks , We find that they are supplying arms to Possibly Pakistan ? WTF !
About 35 tons of arms , you have to wonder who is Buying them , I don't think the Taliban or Al Qaida is capable of receiving a Shipment like this , But would not put it past them to try !
And if Pakistan is the one purchasing them , then I would think there be a problem in the works .
Seeing as how we are Giving Pakistan About 3.5 Billion in a Handout , I Mean Aid , at the same time a large shipment of arms is Captured in Thailand With a Destination of ???
Coming from North Korea , Who has Severe sanction against doing so !
Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn told Reuters on Saturday the action was taken after the plane landed at Don Muang airport and "suspicious" cargo was found on board.
"We have detained five crew. But we can't confirm where the plane is heading to. Roughly, the destination is in Asia, probably South Asia, and the plane came from North Asia," he said.
Monthon Sutchukorn, a deputy spokesman for the Thai air force, said the plane had departed from North Korea but had no further details.
An air force official involved in the inspection, who declined to be named, said the Thai authorities had been asked by the United States to investigate the plane and its cargo.
"We were approached by the United States, seeking our cooperation to examine the suspected plane. It came from North Korea and was heading for somewhere in South Asia, probably Pakistan," the official told Reuters.
North Korea has been hit with fresh United Nations sanctions to punish it for a nuclear test in May. These are aimed at cutting off its arms sales, a vital export item estimated to earn the destitute state more than $1 billion a year.
The North's biggest arm sales come from ballistic missiles, with Iran and other Middle Eastern states being customers, according to U.S. government officials.
The Thai authorities did not say what type of weaponry had been found on the plane.
The U.N. sanctions and the cut-off of handouts from South Korea have dealt a heavy blow to the North, which has an estimated GDP of $17 billion, and may force it back into nuclear disarmament talks in the hopes of winning aid, analysts said.
Media reports said the plane had initially sought permission to land at Bangkok's main Suvarnabhumi international airport but had been diverted to the capital's second airport, Don Muang.
Local media said four of the crew members were from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus.
" HMMMMMMM ? "
Monday, November 9, 2009
Somali pirates seize weapons ship, attack tanker
The Somalia pirates again reach out even farther in their attempt to takeover the waterways around the Horn of Africa !
And now they have more weapons to do it with !
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali pirates have seized a United Arab Emirates-flagged cargo ship loaded with weapons bound for the anarchic Horn of Africa nation in contravention of a U.N. arms embargo, maritime experts said Monday.
Also Monday, the gunmen launched their longest range hijack attempt yet -- opening fire on a giant Hong Kong-flagged crude oil tanker 1,000 nautical miles east of Mogadishu.
Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Program told Reuters he believed the weapons ship was using a fake name. He said it had been hijacked Sunday and was now held near the northern Somali town of Garacad.
"She is one of the regular weapons carriers circumventing the U.N. arms embargo on Somalia," Mwangura said. Maritime sources say the craft is believed to be carrying light arms and ammunition, as well as rockets and rocket-propelled grenades.
"We understand the weapons belong to the Somali government," Farah, a pirate, told Reuters by satellite telephone.
Another gang member, Hassan, said the weapons ship was well known to them: "It has been circling in our ocean for a long time, bringing illegal weapons to massacre Somalis," he said.
