Kuwait's coast guard has seized five ships on suspicion of busting the UN embargo slapped on Iraq for its 1990 occupation of the emirate, the interior ministry said Thursday.
The wooden vessels, carrying 872 tons of Iraqi dates, 520 goats and 400 sheep, and with a total of 51 crewmembers on board, were seized inside Kuwait's territorial waters, the ministry said, without giving the destination.
"The seizure comes as a result of the cooperation with the international forces imposing the decade-long economic embargo against Iraq," it said, not specifying what flag the vessels were flying or the nationalities of the crewmembers.
Kuwait has so far this year seized 25 vessels and small tankers of various sizes carrying oil and goods from Iraq to the Gulf Arab monarchies.
The seized ships and goods are normally sold at auction. Crewmembers, mostly from the Indian subcontinent, are detained and fined before being deported to their home countries.
Baghdad has been under embargo since its August 1990 invasion of Kuwait and is authorized to export crude only under strict UN control to buy imports of food, medicine and other essential goods -- KUWAIT CITY (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
