I didn't realize that the Arabian Sea was part of the United States.
My geography is apparently very, very rusty. 
Posted on 02/23/2024 5:32:31 AM PST by Red Badger
Four men were charged Thursday in federal court in relation to an incident that led to the death of two Navy SEALs in the Arabian Sea in January, according to the Department of Justice(DOJ).
Muhammad Pahlawan, Mohammad Mazhar, Ghufran Ullah and Izhar Muhammad were charged in federal court in connection with the Jan. 11 incident in which Navy Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers and Navy Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Nathan Gage Ingram were swept overboard while seizing Iranian-made weapons in the Arabian Sea, according to a DOJ release. Ingram and Chambers were declared dead by the United States Navy on Jan. 22.
Chambers and Gage were involved in a mission to seize components for ballistic missiles from a dhow, a cargo ship commonly used in the Middle East, that sailed from an Iranian port, according to court documents. The SEALs operated from USS Lewis B. Puller, an expeditionary support ship based in the region with the United States Coast Guard’s Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST).
“During a search of the dhow, the Boarding Team ultimately located and seized what is believed to be Iranian-made advanced conventional weaponry,” FBI Special Agent Patrick Francisco said in a DOJ court filing. “Preliminary analysis of the advanced conventional weaponry indicates that it includes critical components for medium range ballistic missiles (‘MRBM’) and anti-ship cruise missiles (‘ASCM’), to include a warhead, and propulsion and guidance components.”
Francisco said that Pahlawan, Mazhar, Ullah and Muhammed all made false statements when questioned by the MSST. All four men were charged with making false statements to federal law enforcement agents, while Pahlawan, as captain of the dhow, also was charged with transporting explosives.
“Navy forces discovered this suspected Iranian advanced conventional weaponry packaged without markings, labels, or identification in compartments near the front of the dhow,” Francisco said in the filing.
“Much or all of the weaponry was concealed inside tubing or among buoys,” Francisco added.
Why didn’t we just sink it?
This story doesn’t make sense.
Agree. Why are foreign nationals being charged.
Strange story.
Without more details it looks like a cover up
You’re a moron
How the heck are what I assume to be foreign nationals on the high seas being charged in federal courts?
= = =
Don’t lie to the feds,
“All four men were charged with making false statements to federal law enforcement agents, ...”
I’m totally confused. What and why were they charged?
How Muhammad, Mohammad, et al from Bumf**k, Yemen, could be reasonably expected to know that it is a crime to lie to federal law enforcement officials, I can’t imagine.
You keep asking the question and people keep telling you the answer.
The answer is you have to examine a vehicle to determine if a crime is being committed and what they are transporting, and collect the evidence and learn where it is from its source, what to do with it, its destination, and what it tells you about who needs or wants it, and all the normal investigative and intelligence issues related to weapons smuggling and the smugglers and their methods and so on.
I didn't realize that the Arabian Sea was part of the United States.
My geography is apparently very, very rusty.
If they were questioned on a US flagged ship, it’s the same a US soil..................
WTF is the US Coast Guard doing thousands of miles away from the US coast?
My late uncle was in the Coast Guard and he went to Thailand and Vietnam....................
Let me make sure I understand.
Foreign nationals are ordered at gunpoint to get on a US flagged ship.
They obey at gunpoint and get on the US ship.
That means they are subject to US law?
This reminds me of the leadup to the War of 1812 where the British seized American sailors on the high seas and declared them subjects of the King.
International Treaty, Convention of the High Seas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_High_Seas
It looks like Iran did not sign the treaty.
Lol.
the sooner the better
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