Kuwait's coast guard has seized a United Arab Emirates (UAE) ship carrying 620 tons of Iraqi dates, a newspaper reported Wednesday, Novmeber 14.
Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai Al-Aam said the UAE-flagged ship was intercepted Tuesday in Kuwaiti territorial waters for breaking the UN embargo on Iraq. It said the ship's cargo was confiscated and its 13-man crew referred to Kuwaiti authorities. The coast guard frequently stops and searches boats.
Last year, it seized more than 20 vessels and small tankers of various sizes carrying oil and goods from Iraq to the Gulf Arab monarchies. The ships and goods are normally sold at auction. Crew members, mostly from the Indian subcontinent, are detained and fined before being deported.
Baghdad has been under embargo since its August 1990 invasion of Kuwait and is authorized to export crude only under strict UN control. — (AFP, Kuwait City)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
