Didn't know the Navy did stuff like this
 

We are definitely the Policemen of the World, and probably the only ones.

The weapons seizure so big it covered the rear deck of a 567-foot US warship

By Brad Lendon, CNN
Updated 5:53 AM ET, Mon May 10, 2021

(CNN) A joint US Navy and Coast Guard team seized thousands of illicit weapons last week after stopping a small ship in the North Arabian Sea, the Navy said in a statement.
The cruiser USS Monterey stopped the stateless dhow on May 6 during a routine operation to verify its registry, the Navy said.
A US Coast Guard Advanced Interdiction Team deployed on the Navy ship then boarded the dhow and found the weapons stash.

An SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey flies above a stateless dhow interdicted with a shipment of illicit weapons in international waters of the North Arabian Sea on May 6, 2021.
The massive arms haul covered much of the rear flight deck of the 567-foot (173-meter) US warship after it was transferred over in what the Navy said was a two-day operation.

"The cache of weapons included dozens of advanced Russian-made anti-tank guided missiles, thousands of Chinese Type 56 assault rifles, and hundreds of PKM machine guns, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Other weapon components included advanced optical sights," the Navy statement said.

The origin and destination of the weapons is under investigation but previous arms shipments confiscated by the US Navy under similar circumstances were bound for Houthi rebels in Yemen, Lt. Cmdr. Pete Pagano, a spokesperson for the Navy's Fifth Fleet told CNN in an email Monday.
Pagano cited three similar seizures by the Fifth Fleet in recent years.

On February 12, the guided-missile destroyer USS Winston Churchill stopped two dhows off the coast of Somali, which were carrying weapons including rocket-propelled grenade launchers, crew-served weapons and small arms.
On February 9, 2020, the cruiser USS Normandy stopped a dhow in the Arabian Sea and seized missile components.
And on November 25, 2019, the destroyer USS Forrest Sherman found missile components on a dhow it stopped in the Arabian Sea.

The Navy also said the weapons seized last week will remain in US custody while the investigation is ongoing.
After the dhow stopped last week was deemed seaworthy and its crew was questioned, they were provided with food and water and released, according to the statement.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1620642210.jpg

Yes they do and have done for a long time.

What jurisdiction are they working under to do this in international waters?

The lesson in this story is if you are going to smuggle weapons don’t do it in a dhow.

I think DoD personnel are prohibited from law enforcement everywhere so maybe they had a CGIS agent on board. IIRC the Coast Guard can get permission from the flag nation to board and search in internat'l waters.

Who's breaking what law here that justifies this seizure? Is there an int'l. arms embargo against Yemen that the US is responsible for enforcing? I know no navy can really challenge ours in that neck of the woods. But how is this not outright piracy?

Maybe we can flip `em to the good guys.

_

There is something called the concept of universal jurisdiction in international waters. Any country can intervene to stop 'criminal activity'. In this case the US seized the weapons, so that's probably the end of it. I believe that charges would have to be based in the country where the ship is registered.

I have no idea if the shipment was illegal, but it's a moot point now. The bigger ship won the battle. It may, in fact, have been an act of piracy.

I have been part of operations with the coast guard in US waters.
Mainly drug running near the keys.
Never knew they did these OPs overseas too.

Too bad they didn't just chuck all of those into the ocean.

This is why PP needs a 'Misc. Classified' section. :)

then those that bashed Benchmade would bash the Navy!!


I feel sorry for the poor lowly sailor that needs to jot down all the serial numbers. I bet it took days to stack them up like that.

I would bulldoze those overboard. after I launched a rocket at something :)

I never knew the CG ran drugs near the keys!

:D

j/k

My son had pirate duty off the coast of Somalia around 2010 aboard a Navy missile cruiser. In addition to pirate patrol they dropped off and picked up Seal teams along the way. The had a Coast Guard officer on board if an arrest was needed.

in the old days the crew would get to take their pick of the confiscated weapons as a reward. better times.

They have to have a CG team, or fly one in. LEDET's or TACLET's. Navy can't enforce stuff like that. Without it being a act of aggression or war.

So a quick sat phone call to State Dept...they call the country the vessels is flagged with. That country quickly denies that they know of said vessel to keep sanctions from being imposed. Basically their own country say's "Never heard of them" and poof you have a stateless vessel (pirate) and then you send in the boarding team.

If you look at the boarding team boats even though they are Navy craft, you'll see they have to fly a CG ensign and have a CG Boarding Officer on the prize crew. Little know much feared Shallow Water Sailors:D.-WW

CGIS is like NCIS...they investigate their own members...I could have been on the prize crew or boarding officer (in-charge) as a simple E-4, E-5. I was a boarding team member as a E-3 packing heat and everything when I was 18 years old, right out of high school he-he. They give us way too responsibility in the CG still wet behind the ears. -WW

ps...If its a US flagged boat, or any boat operating in US waters, I didn't even need a warrant of any kind. I said "Heave too and prepare to be boarded". And you had better have listened. All legal and everything. Huge responsibility which I think we preformed pretty well.

The lesson is Illegal guns will flow regardless of law. Do not ban the AR14 and 100 round clips.

Those guns weren't making their way into Chicago from Indianapolis, Mississippi or Wisconsin.

BTW- how many AR 14's in that load?

Give everyone on the edge of the deck one of the machine guns, and shoot some trap with the rocket launcher!

Probably no AR 14s. So your post (as well as your agenda) is irrelevant to this thread.

Then how does the USN get away with doing this without the flag nation permission?

Easy, someone on the squid boat called HQ and asked, "Who's boat is this, they're acting shady?" The shady boat probably had a flag flying off their stern with a homeport and country painted so our State Dept just called the home country painted on the stern. The shady boat probably wouldn't answer any hail's on the radio, trying to be sneaky. Or shut off their AIS. Shady stuff.

Just as a example. If it had a Maldives flag or Comore's flag we just call their government and asked if they claim it..it has their flag flying. Then when they ask why? we say "we think its doing shady stuff." They always say they never heard of 'em. That makes them stateless...no homeport, no country will claim them. Pirates in the day's of sail would fly a friendly flag until the last instant then drop it and pull a Jolly Roger as they tacked in for a broadside.

This arms smuggler was deemed "Stateless" so it was fair game. Whatever was painted on the stern for a home country threw them under the bus. And just in case there's confusion between a act of war and running down pirate scum, they have the Coastie's assault cuz we fill the slot between war and law enforcement. -WW

Outstanding!

There must be a big profit margin in arms smuggling, to absorb the cost of that load of weapons.

I wonder if the source of the weapons was a military unit that had them stolen, or were they made as contraband weapons and sold as such? Someone just took a big loss of money and product.

I hope the entire chain of smugglers kill each other off.

This amount of guns smuggled, I would think it's state organized smuggling.
DPRK to Iran
Iran to Yemen
China to Iran
Whatever.

it's not about "policing", it's about politics in the region
Somebody sold guns to somebody the US don't like
Had it been guns going towards a rebel group planning to overthrow the Ayatollah, the Police in this story wouldn't have batted an eyelid.

I'd say it is spot on.