U.S. Navy intercepts fishing boat smuggling ammunition in Gulf of Oman -statement

CAIRO (Reuters) – The U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet said on Saturday it had intercepted a fishing trawler smuggling “more than 50 tonnes of ammunition rounds, fuses and propellants for rockets” in the Gulf of Oman along a maritime route from Iran to Yemen on Dec. 1.

“Navy personnel operating from expeditionary sea base USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB 3) discovered the illicit cargo during a flag verification boarding, marking U.S. 5th Fleet’s second major illegal weapons seizure within a month,” it added in a statement.

(Reporting by Enas Alashray and Yomna Ehab; Editing by Toby Chopra)