(Washington Post) Joby Warrick - Inspectors from the United Arab Emirates found hundreds of crates containing 2,030 detonators for 122mm rockets, as well as a large quantity of solid-fuel propellant for thousands of short-range rockets, hidden on the freighter ANL Australia bound for Iran. A U.S. intelligence official acknowledged that U.S. spies "played a key role" in tracking the shipment. The freighter was one of five vessels caught this year carrying large, secret caches of weapons apparently intended for Hizbullah, Hamas, or the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. In three cases, the contraband included North Korean- or Chinese-made components for rockets such as the 122mm Grad, which has a range of up to 25 miles and which Hamas and Hizbullah have fired into Israel.
2009-12-03 08:16:14Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive