http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article50193
Thursday 6 March 2014
Sudan denies any knowledge of arms shipment seized by Israel: official
March 5, 2014 (KHARTOUM) - A senior official at Sudan's ministry of foreign
affairs said his country had nothing to do with an arms shipment that
Israel claimed to have seized in the Red Sea off the Sudanese coast.
The senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, denied *Sudan
Tribune* the Sudanese government had any knowledge pf the matter, accusing
Israel of spreading "lies" in order to pre-empt action it secretly plans to
carry out.
Israel said on Wednesday that it had seized a vessel carrying advanced
Iranian weapons made in Syria that was heading towards Gaza.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the Panamanian-flagged vessel was
boarded by Israeli naval commandos in the Red Sea off the coast of Sudan.
IDF spokesperson Afikhai Adrei said a military operation personally
overseen by army chief-of-staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz had tracked the
weapons for several months as they were flown from Damascus to Tehran
before being taken to a port in southern Iran, where the weapons were
loaded.
He said M-302 surface-to-surface missiles were later found aboard the ship,
which had sailed out of Iran's Bandar Abas sea port through Iraq and was
heading to Port Sudan before being intercepted by an Israeli special unit
of navy commandos in the regional waters between Sudan and Eritrea.
Adrei added that the vessel was being towed to the Israeli port of Eilat, a
journey which would take several days, where the 17-member crew will be
questioned and the weapons unloaded.
The United States also announced that the interception of this ship was a
product of joint cooperation between Washington and Tel Aviv.
"Throughout this time our intelligence and military activities were closely
coordinated with our Israeli counterparts, who ultimately chose to take the
lead in interdicting this shipment of illicit arms," White House spokesman
Jay Carney said on Wednesday.
"We will continue to stand up to Iran's support for destabilising
activities in the region in coordination with our partners and allies," he
added.
It is widely believed that Israel carried out at least two airstrikes in
eastern Sudan in 2009 and 2011 against targets involved in arms smuggling.
In October 2012, Sudan accused Israel of being behind air strikes that
targeted the Al-Yarmouk arms factory in Khartoum.
(ST)
Received on Thu Mar 06 2014 - 08:22:13 EST