Ship Carrying 20,000 Rifles Found in Aegean

The Hellenic Coast Guard escorted the ship to Rhodes, and inquiries immediately began as there is a mystery concerning the ship's destination.

The alarm was raised on Thursday night, when the brigade based on the island of Kos informed port authorities on Kalymnos that the ship "Nour M" was following an unorthodox course near the Imia islands.

A Coast Guard vessel rushed to the spot, while the police narcotics squad identified the ship as belonging to a Syrian company, and as having concerned authorities in the past for drug smuggling, As was noted it has changed names often in the past.

The ship was escorted to Symi island, on Friday morning, and a few hours later to Rhodes, where the search took place.

Authorities found that 56 of the 59 containers the ship carried, held 20,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles and large quantities of ammunition.

Meanwhile there are discrepancies as to the final destination, with the captain originally claiming they were bound for a Turkish port.

However, the "marin trafik" system showed heading for Tartus, Syria, while another maritime monitoring system showed Tripoli in Libya, as a destination.