Shipments of AK-47s Confiscated from Dhows in Arabian Sea

Another shipment of AK-47 type rifles was seized in the Arabian sea on August 27th, 2018. The dhow carrying the cargo was in distress. It was not under power or under sail. It had no papers from any nation-state. This seems to be fairly common in the area. The boarding team  from the USS Jason Dunham found a thousand AK style rifles. No mention was made of ammunition or Rocket Propelled Grenades, another common small arm in the area. From navy.mil:

The skiff was determined to be stateless following a flag verification boarding, conducted in accordance with international law. Illicit cargo discovered by the Dunham’s visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) team included over 1,000 weapons.

“Our ship routinely conducts maritime security operations with our highly-trained VBSS team incorporating both on and off ship intelligence assets to help locate vessels,” said Cmdr. John Hamilton, Dunham’s commanding officer. “Ensuring the free flow of commerce for legitimate traffic and securing the sea lanes of communication continue to be paramount to the U.S. Navy and its regional partners and allies, and I am proud of Jason Dunham’s Sailors for accomplishing the mission.”

Dunham located a dhow transferring covered packages to a skiff on Aug. 27. On Aug. 28, Dunham conducted a flag verification boarding and determined the skiff to be a stateless vessel. Subsequently, the boarding team discovered a cache of over 1,000 AK-47 automatic rifles.

The skiff’s engines were inoperable, and the distressed mariners were brought aboard Dunham as part of a safety-of-life-at-sea (SOLAS) operation. The mariners were evaluated by the ship’s medical personnel and were uninjured.

 The original source of the rifles was not known at this time. The intended customers have not been mentioned in any of the reporting found so far. The sailors from the distressed dhow were turned over to the Yemeni Coast Guard.

It is presumed to be a force favored by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia vs the Iranians.  I would not wish to be a sailor delivering arms to the Iranian backed rebels, and turned over to the Saudi backed government forces. Perhaps this was a freemarket venture.

In reports dealing with similar arms shipments in 2016, it was reported the intended recipients were on the Iranian side of the conflict, and the arms were from the Iranians. In 2016, the sailors were released after the arms were confiscated. There were several seizures of arms in 2016. One of those included 21 .50 caliber machine guns. From a 2016 navy.mil article:

MANAMA, Bahrain (NNS) — For the third time in recent weeks, international naval forces operating in the waters of the Arabian Sea seized a shipment of illicit arms March 28, which the United States assessed originated in Iran and was likely bound for Houthi insurgents in Yemen.

The U.S. Navy Coastal Patrol ship USS Sirocco, operating as part of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, intercepted and seized the shipment of weapons hidden aboard a small, stateless dhow. The illicit cargo included 1,500 AK-47s, 200 RPG launchers and 21 .50 caliber machine guns.

(snip)

The Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Darwin intercepted a dhow Feb. 27, confiscating nearly 2,000 AK-47 assault rifles, 100 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, 49 PKM general purpose machine guns, 39 PKM spare barrels and 20 60mm mortar tubes.

A March 20 seizure by the French Navy destroyer FS Provence yielded almost 2,000 AK-47 assault rifles, 64 Dragunov sniper rifles, nine anti-tank missiles and other associated equipment.

 There is an interesting 2+ year gap in reported seizures of AK-47 rifles in the Arabian sea. The confiscation in 2018 happened because the dhow’s engines failed.  The engine failure should be a rare occurrence.

Forbes reported in 2017 that prices in the area varied from $600 in Kurdish areas of Iraq to $1200 in Yemen.

AK-47 type rifles are comparable to the U.S. M16/AR15 type rifles for cost of production.  But cost of production is moot when large quantities of rifles are turned out in subsidized government factories.

There have been many rumors of AK-47 type rifles being extremely cheap, as in less than $100 in certain areas. Those rifles may exist; but in most hot spots the research on the Internet is showing a bottom of about $500 per rifle.

1000 AK-47 rifles are about a half million dollar to a million dollars of rifles in the Arabian sea. Probably much more than the dhow cost.

©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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