Posted on 12/21/2011 3:22:04 PM PST by NormsRevenge
The Finnish authorities have impounded an Isle of Man-flagged ship bound for China with undeclared missiles and explosives, officials say.
Police are questioning the crew of the MS Thor Liberty after what were described as 69 Patriot anti-missile missiles were found aboard.
Interior Minister Paivi Rasanen said the missiles were marked "fireworks".
The MS Thor Liberty had docked in the Finnish port of Kotka after leaving Germany last week.
Dock workers became suspicious after finding explosives poorly stored on open pallets, and the missiles were then found in containers marked "fireworks".
The managing director of the ship's owner, Thorco Shipping, expressed surprise. Thomas Mikkelsen told AFP news agency from Denmark that he was unaware of the matter.
Another company official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the ship had been detained in Finland and said the missiles could have been loaded on to the vessel by mistake, AFP adds.
Police did not confirm Finnish media reports that the ship had also been scheduled to stop in South Korea, Reuters news agency reports. 'Quite unusual'
The MS Thor Liberty left port in Emden, northern Germany, on 13 December and docked two days later in Kotka, southern Finland, to pick up a cargo of anchor chains, said Finnish Customs spokesman Petri Lounatmaa. A Patriot missile launcher deployed at Tatoi air base, near Athens, Greece (archive image) Patriot missile systems are supplied to US allies
It was bound for the Chinese port of Shanghai but there was no indication for whom the military cargo was destined.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
More DemocRat campaign dollars?
‘undeclared’, loaded by accident.. uhh yeah , sure. just a paperwork screw-up I’m sure.
Always raises suspicion to ship “fireworks” TO China!
Fast and Furious on steroids. China must have called in the chips with their manchurian candidate.
WTF????????????????????????????????????????
Now thats funny!
Germany’s got some splainin to do.
Someone needed some cash. The article mentioned the Greeks, Hmmm... Just saying.
LOL! how very true!
:.. no indication for whom the military cargo was destined.”
nor from whom it originated??
sounds like the Clinton administration all over again with all kinds of third party shipper/vendors masking the identity of the actuals.
gosh I wonder if a bisexual black muslim man has anything 2 do with this.
Thanks NormsRevenge.
The port of loading was omitted. From where were the missles shipped?
wow. Looks like we just cannot wait to send our best stuff to China for them to copy.
Actually, yes; that will raise flags in any customs office.
“Always raises suspicion to ship fireworks TO China!”
Great post! Somebody got paid for this delivery. Follow the money.
In 1973 a friend of mine was a crew chief on a USAF C-130. This was years ago and I’m sorry but I don’t recall the name of the base but he said they dropped cargo at a US base in Turkey. My friend was told his plane would be back in two days and he was ordered to stay behind. He said that was not SOP. Long story short, the plain broke down at it’s destination on that two day trip and it was almost a month getting back to Turkey to retrieve him. He learned later that on the two day trip his plane delivered US made bombs to Moscow and he didn’t have the clearance classification to be involved.
Hahaha hahahahaaaaa hahahahahhahahaaaahahhahaaaaaa. Best one I've heard today!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.