BICOM

Egyptian naval forces intercepted a ship which entered its territorial waters last night, laden with weapons and explosives. Some reports suggest that the cache is an Iranian shipment of arms destined for terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip or Sinai Peninsula.

Reuters reports that the ship was carrying at least seven crew members and spent a week in international waters. Egypt’s general staff spokesman Ahmed Mohamed Ali said on his Facebook page that, “Inside they found a number of weapons and quantities of ammunition of various types,” but suggested that the ship may belong to a private maritime security company.

However, a report by Turkish news agency Anatolia claimed that the ship was an Iranian fishing vessel named “Sawit 1”and that it was carrying 62,283 items of weaponry, including significant numbers of Kalashnikovs, sniper rifles and RPGs. Other reports have suggested that the ship was flying a Togolese flag. Reports appear to concur that the vessel was intercepted twelve nautical miles north of Ras Muhammad in the Sinai Peninsula and was escorted by the Egyptian navy to the port of Safaga where crew members are being questioned.

Israel Hayom reports that the ship was on its way to delivering arms to terrorist groups in Gaza or Sinai, while Maariv suggests that the Egyptian naval intervention may have taken place on the basis of Israeli intelligence. Egypt has recently sought to clamp down on lawlessness and terror activity in the Sinai Peninsula. Egyptian officials last week said that they apprehended twenty five suspected terrorists in the Sinai region and seized a number of weapons.