US 5th Fleet Seizes Weapons Shipment in Arabian Sea 

CAIRO - The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet said Saturday that the guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey had seized an illicit shipment of weapons from a stateless dhow in international waters of the North Arabian Sea on Thursday and Friday.

"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 grenades launchers. Other weapon components included advanced optical sights," the Bahrain-based fleet said in a statement. It added that the materiel was in U.S. custody awaiting final disposition, while the source and intended destination of the materiel were under investigation. "After all illicit cargo was removed, the dhow was assessed for seaworthiness, and after questioning, its crew was provided food and water before being released," the statement said.