The U.S. Navy says it seized about 1,400 AK-47 assault rifles and 226,000 rounds of ammunition from a fishing ship in the northern part of the Arabian Sea.
“The stateless vessel was assessed to have originated in Iran and transited international waters along a route historically used to traffic weapons unlawfully to the Houthis in Yemen,” the Navy’s 5th Fleet said Wednesday in a statement.
It said the crew of five people identified themselves as Yemeni and would be returned to Yemen, and that the U.S. Navy sank the vessel after determining it posed a hazard to commercial shipping navigation.
Western nations have accused Iran of smuggling arms into Yemen to aid the Houthis, which Iran denies.
The Houthis seized Yemen’s capital in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to launch a military operation backing Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
source: https://www.voanews.com/a/us-navy-seizes-arms-in-arabian-sea/6366401.html