Yemen denies being the source of arms seized in Saudi Arabia’s waters [Archives:2004/778/Front Page]

It was reported last Wednesday that a ship captured off the coast of Saudi Arabia by the kingdom's authorities was smuggling weapons to Sudan from Yemen.
The Yemeni government immediately denied the claim that the arms were smuggled out of Yemen.
“Yemen is not the source of those weapons, and the ship did not originated from any Yemeni harbor,” said a security official last Thursday.
On board the ship were hundreds of automatic rifles and a large amount of ammunition when it was seized off the southern coast of Jazan.
Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Mansour Turki said that the crew members confessed that they were smuggling arms to Sudan, were of Sudanese origin, and that the ship lost its course.
“The rules adopted in this case are in line with internationally recognized norms, which the kingdom will be implementing after verifying the nature of the territorial violation,” said Turki. “If we find out that the violation was committed intentionally, the violators will be punished in Saudi Arabia.”
Last spring, Saudi and Yemeni governments agreed to secure the border between the two countries to stem the flow of smuggling. Smugglers have been known to carry a wide variety of goods, ranging from diesel fuel, to qat, to weapons, into Saudi Arabia across the long, porous border. It is reported that Saudi authorities believe arms involved in suicide bombings last year in Riyadh that killed over 50 people were traced to being smuggled out of Yemen.
Yemen has been building its security along the coastlines and at ports. The government has been developing its coast guard, including the use of gunboats given to the government from the United States last spring.
“The government has put in a lot of effort into, and has done a good job in, fighting against smuggling,” said a Yemeni analyst. “They have been doing the best they can, but it does not have all the means and resources. It will take time to control smuggling because what they need is more resource.”
The Yemeni security official said that Yemen and Saudi Arabia are working together to determine the results of the Saudi authorities capture of the smugglers.
“Contacts are being made between concerned bodies in Yemeni and Saudi to understand the circumstances in light of the investigations being conducted by Saudi authorities within the framework of security cooperation between two fraternal countries,” the official said.
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