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Doubts Grow on Ship as Qatar Urges Syria Action |
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Monday, 16 January 2012A Russian ship suspected of delivering arms to Syria in violation of an EU arms embargo after an unscheduled stop in Greek Cyprus anchored off Turkey’s southern coast on Jan. 14, according to diplomatic sources.
Turkish coast guard and customs officials will board the vessel, the Chariot, before allowing it to dock at the port of Ýskenderun in the southern province of Hatay, the source told the Hürriyet Daily News, adding that the crew had notified authorities that the vessel was carrying cargo bound for a Turkish company in the nearby province of Gaziantep.
The Chariot left the Syrian port of Tartus early Jan. 14 and reached Ýskenderun late the same day; the captain’s messages also confirmed that the ship had arrived from Syria.
The Syrian-bound ship dropped anchor off the southern Greek Cypriot port of Limassol on Jan. 10 after running low on fuel because of high seas, according to government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou. Customs officials inspecting the vessel found that it was carrying “dangerous cargo” inside four containers, Finance Minister Kikis Kazamias said.
Its arrival in the EU member country meant the vessel should have been subjected to the embargo the union imposed on Damascus due to the regime’s crackdown on the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
But Greek Cyprus allowed the Chariot to leave Jan. 11 after the ship’s owners, St. Petersburg-based Westberg Ltd., said it would head to Turkey instead of Syria.
The ship then vanished off radar screens after apparently switching off its Automatic Identification System (AIS), which tracks vessels.
Turkish officials said Jan. 12 that its Navy intelligence units determined that the vessel had made its way to Tartus after leaving Greek Cyprus.
Arms-trafficking specialist Hugh Griffiths told the Associated Press that the Chariot was a ship designed to carry dangerous cargo such as ammunition, explosives and missiles and has a history of delivering arms to sensitive destinations in the Middle East and Africa.
Switching off one’s AIS is “standard operating procedure” for ships involved in drug-trafficking and clandestine arms shipments, he said.
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Monday, 16 January 2012
HDN
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