Posted on 04/21/2004 12:54:02 AM PDT by kattracks
Edited on 05/26/2004 5:20:50 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
April 21, 2004 -- A Turkish ship headed for New York - and stuffed with thousands of Kalashnikov assault rifles and AK-47s - was seized en route in Italy, authorities said yesterday.
The ship's deadly hoard of more than 7,500 terrorist-grade rifles and machine guns worth more than $6 million was discovered illegally hidden under piles of properly labeled arms in several massive cargo containers, Italian officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
This is the second piece of trash I've seen by them posted here. Can you believe that it took two people to write this? They are an embarrassment to the paper. They are 22 years-old added together...or have a cumulative IQ of about 70.
If I were an editor or owner of the NYP, these clowns would be so fired. I wouldn't trust 'em to to workman-like obits.
Officials refused to identify the business, citing security concerns and the ongoing investigation.
"We know that the [ship's] destination was North America, but we don't effectively know if that's where the [suspect] arms were going," one customs official told Italian state television.
The ship's cache of combat-style weapons was uncovered several days ago during a routine customs inspection at the Calabrian port of Gioia Tauro in southern Italy, officials said. They said they didn't reveal the bust at the time because of the continuing probe.
A continuing probe? After reading this article do you suppose the buyer is still sitting in his empty Georgia warehouse waiting for the shipment? The printing of this is story is another example of a media completely void of interest in the security of America.
"The AK-47s had been tampered with so they couldn't be rapidly fired, but the modification was one that could easily have been reversed, authorities said."
In other words, they were "de-milled" firearms that had been converted to "semi-auto only" configuration, and that were probably perfectly legitimate to own and sell.
The killers at Columbine used a couple of shotguns, a 9mm carbine, and a pistol. This article is an embarrasment
Where to begin.
"terrorist-grade rifles and machine guns"
What the hell does "terrorist grade" mean? and if the load did include machine guns, weapons which fire continuously as long as the trigger is held to the rear, why were they not listed in the story?
"lightweight combat Kalashnikov rifles, AK-47 assault rifles"
Umm...kalashnikovs ARE AKs...that's the "k" in "AK"
"Lightweight"? Not to anyone who's ever picked up any other modern weapon- AKs are notable for being significantly HEAVIER than more modern designs.
"SKA and Mauser rifles"
I'll bet $100.00 that the "SKA" should have been "SKS", a semi-automatic (one trigger pull= one round fired) only weapon. I've never heard of, nor does a quick googling provide hits on, "SKA rifle".
The "Mauser" is mostly likely a Model 98...i.e. a rifle introduced in 1898 that is bolt-action, just like grandad's hunting rifle.
"cartridges that can hold up to 30 rounds"
Cartridge = round. The poor little tykes were referring to MAGAZINES, which are the boxy things that hold cartridges or rounds.
"The AK-47s had been tampered with so they couldn't be rapidly fired"
From Webster's-
"Tamper- to interfere so as to weaken or change for the worse..."
"Modify"- a : to make minor changes in b : to make basic or fundamental changes in often to give a new orientation to or to serve a new end "
In this sense, what the kids meant to say was "modify"- i.e. "The weapons had been modified to fire only single shots."
"Osama bin Laden sported one in the now-infamous footage of him taken after 9/11."
Nope. the most common photos I've seen show him with a short-barreled AK74, which fires a smaller, higher velocity round than the AK47.
"AK-47s also have been the weapon of choice for some infamous military-minded wackos, such as the teens who shot up Columbine HS in Littleton, Colo., in 1999"
The AK may have been the weapon of choice for those wackos...BUT THEY DIDN"T HAVE ANY- they had shotguns, pistol caliber carbine, and some sort of jam-o-matic handgun with an external magazine.
I enjoy the post's editorial stance...but this story is laughably inept- I'd expect this from Time, Newsweek, or the NYT- not you guys.
rgds, mark sxxx Houston, Texas
Perhaps they were to be delivered after the AWB sunset, which would make the transaction completely legal.
Wierd that a paperwork SNAFU is causing this much press.
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