French Navy Busts Somalia-bound AK-47 Consignment

For the third time in six months, huge consignments of weapons that include hundreds of AK-47 assault rifles and anti-tank weapons were seized from a dhow headed for Somalia.

The Combined Maritime Forces Combined Task Force 150 which conducts the anti-piracy and counter terrorism operations off the coast of Somalia was quoted as saying by IHS Janes that, “the seizure was made on 20 March near Socotra in the Northern Indian Ocean by the French Navy’s FREMM frigate.”

"The haul included several hundred AK-47 assault rifles, machine guns and anti-tank weapons. As illicit weapons were deemed to be destined for Somalia, they were seized under the United Nations Security Council mandated arms embargo in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2244 of 2015," the force said.

The seizure came three weeks after the Royal Australian Navy discovered a haul of 1989 AK-47 automatic assault rifles, 100 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, 49 PKM general purpose machineguns, 39 PKM spare barrels and twenty 60 mm mortar tubes from a small fishing vessel that was also headed to Somalia.

The stateless smuggling vessel was intercepted by Australian navy ship HMAS Darwin about 170 nautical miles off the coast of Oman. The latest consignment includes what appear to be North Korean Type 73 machine guns.