Arms ship did not come from Yemen, says official

SANAA, Oct 1, 2004 (Gulf News) — Yemen has dismissed the allegations that a ship carrying weapons and ammunition seized by the Saudi authorities in the kingdom’s territorial waters earlier this week originated from Yemen.

“Yemen is not the source of those weapons, and the ship has not originated from any Yemeni harbour,” the army’s mouthpiece newspaper quoted an unidentified security official as saying yesterday.

The official said the arms cargo found on the board of the ship might have been smuggled. “Contacts are being made between Yemeni and Saudi concerned bodies to know the circumstances in the light of the results of investigations being conducted by Saudi authorities in the framework of the security cooperation between the two fraternal countries,” the official added.

Earlier this week, Saudi authorities had seized the ship off the southern Saudi coast of Jaizan. The ship, carrying hundreds of automatic rifles and large quantities of ammunition on board, was reported to have originated from Yemen and was on its way to Sudan.

Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Mansour Turki said the ship’s crew members identified themselves as Sudanese and admitted they were trying to smuggle weapons into Sudan. Turki said the crew admitted having lost their way and entered Saudi territorial waters by mistake.

“The rules adopted in this case are in line with internationally recognised norms, which the kingdom will be implementing after verifying the nature of the territorial violation at the end of the investigation,” Turki said.

“If we find out that the violation was committed intentionally the violators will be punished in Saudi Arabia, and if it was a mistake they will be repatriated.”