DJ UPDATE: US Seizes Boat With Al-Qaida Suspects On Crew
12/19/2003
Dow Jones News Services
(Copyright © 2003 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
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RIYADH (AP)--The U.S. Navy has seized a sailing boat in the Gulf carrying two tons of hashish tied to the al-Qaida terrorist network, a Navy spokesman said Friday.
A boarding party from the guided missile destroyer USS Decatur intercepted the boat on Monday, Cmdr. James Graybeal of the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet told The Associated Press by telephone from Manama.
Graybeal said three of the 12 crew on the dhow, as such boats are called, are "believed to have links to al-Qaida," the group blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S. He said an earlier report from Washington that four crew were al-Qaida suspects was incorrect.
The hashish had been "carefully concealed" on the dhow, and had a street value of about $9 million, Graybeal said.
"The future disposition of the dhow and the crew have yet to be determined," he told the AP.
U.S. Central Command said in a statement the dhow was intercepted near the Straits of Hormuz between Iran and Oman.
The area is a known smuggling route used by al-Qaida, the Central Command statement said. It added that investigators found clear ties between the drugs and al-Qaida.
"This capture is indicative of the need to continuing maritime patrol of the Gulf in order to stop the movement of terrorists, drugs and weapons," Rear. Adm. Jim Stavridis of the USS Decatur was quoted as saying in a Navy press release.
"This is a vital part of winning the global war on terror," Stavridis added.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
12-19-03 1344ET |
