US Navy seizes load of rifles smuggled from Iran to Yemen

Navy officials say the sea drones deployed by the Fifth Fleet's experimental Task Force 59 are contributing to their ability to monitor Middle Eastern waterways, but won't credit the units with enabling any specific seizures just yet.
A picture taken during a guided tour by the US Navy shows a US Navy patrol boat that took journalists on board at an Emirati naval facility near the port of the Gulf emirate of Fujairah to show them an oil tanker that was attacked last week in the Gulf of Oman, June 19, 2019.
A picture taken during a guided tour by the US Navy shows a US Navy patrol boat that took journalists on board at an Emirati naval facility near the port of the Gulf emirate of Fujairah to show them an oil tanker that was attacked last week in the Gulf of Oman, June 19, 2019. - -/AFP via Getty Images
Jared Szuba headshot (new)
Jared Szuba
@JM_Szuba

The US Navy seized a shipment of 2,116 AK-47 assault rifles smuggled aboard a fishing vessel in the Gulf of Oman on Friday.

The crew of the coastal patrol ship USS Chinook discovered and seized the cache along a maritime route typically used for trafficking weapons from Iran to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet said in a statement on Tuesday. The USS Monsoon and guided missile destroyer USS The Sullivans provided support during the boarding and search.

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