US detains smuggling ship, UK seizes drugs in Mideast waters
By ISABEL DEBRE
Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. Navy says it seized a boat in the Gulf of Oman carrying fertilizer used to make explosives that was caught last year smuggling weapons to Yemen. The British royal navy says it confiscated 1,041 kilograms (2,295 pounds) of illegal drugs in the same waters. The interdictions announced Sunday are the latest in the volatile waters of the Persian Gulf as American and British authorities step up seizures of contraband amid the grinding conflict in Yemen and ongoing drug trafficking in the region. The U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet said the suspected smuggling ship was sailing from Iran on a well-worn maritime arms trafficking route to war-ravaged Yemen.