The weapons' ship: Who funded it... How it passed through Turkey.. and how it was seized.

The Lebanese army navy seizure of the smuggled weapons' ship which was on its way to Tripoli (Lebanese one) port, remained the subject of active followup on the internal level, first, because of the huge volume of the shipment of weapons, second, because of what it implies as an indicator that SOME are working on indulging Lebanon in the Syrian crisis, and adopt it as a corridor to support the opposition and arming it.

While the ship "Lutfalla - 2" was caught red-handed, but what happened makes us wonder if any other ships managed in the past to "sneak" through the Lebanese waters, and breach the policy of self-distance, therefore reaching the place of discharge.

While the investigation continues with the ship's crew to know the backgrounds of the arms shipments and the destination party, a judicial source revealed to "Assafir" newspaper the data available so far, which are allowed to be said to the public, saying: "The ship and the weapons shipments funders are two Syrian business men living in Saudi Arabia, and the ship's owner is of Syrian nationality, and the Captain is Syrian as well, and all of them are from the Syrian opposition"..

The source added: "The person who was supposed to receive the shipment in the port of Tripoli is of a Syrian nationality, and he was arrested... He conducted a deal with a Lebanese forwarder to facilitate the shipment in return of a large sum of money".

The source said that the ship's rout started from Libya, then Turkey, Egypt and finally reaching Lebanon, pointing that the ship's load was containers of weapons, ammunition and gear only.. Nothing but that, which make us wonder how the ship passed through the three previous ports, and what did the ship do in Turkey, and why it was not inspected in Alexandria, and how did it cross all this distance without being intercepted?

The source confirmed that "The Intelligence directorate in the Lebanese army, was informed in advance that there is a shipment of weapons coming into Lebanon, so they took the necessary action, and waited for it to enter the territory water".

The judicial source added that "The investigations are under way with 11 people who were onboard the ship, the Syrian Captain, and workers from various nationalities.

As for the weapons seized:
- Light arms: Machine guns of war.
- Medium weapons: 12.7 Machine guns and Rocket-Propelled grenades.
- Heavy weapons: 120mm Mortars
- Two types of rockets: Anti-tank missiles, and anti-aircraft missiles carried on shoulders..
All those weapons came with their full ammunition.

The source explained that the reason behind towing the ship to Sila'ata port, is that it is an empty port and used rarely, and the movement in that port is more easy, while Tripoli port is always congested .. So the ship was towed to Sila'ata port and the weapons were moved to the Lebanese army warehouses, while the ship was then moved to Beirut Naval Base.

The source concluded in creating an impression that the Arab decision to arm the Syrian opposition is now interpreted in a strong way, as the issue is not about smuggling a number of light arms from Northern Lebanon, or other areas, but it is about a full weapons shipment, which raises BIG question marks about the guts in sending them to Lebanon, and what was the one who sent it depending on??

The End..

Assafir Newspaper - Dawood Rammal.