Arm smugglers busted by joint Greece-U.S. operation

An arms-smuggling ring bringing weapons from the United States to Greece, with Crete as their main destination, was caught in a joint operation set up by the Attica police Organised Crime department and the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement service.

The three men arrested during the operation in Greece were led before a Zakynthos first-instance court prosecutor on Saturday to face criminal charges.

The three suspects were arrested on Friday during coordinated raids carried out by Greek police in Attica, the Ionian island of Zakynthos and a village in the Rethymno region on the island of Crete.

A fourth man, a 45-year-old Greek-American believed to be the ring leader, had earlier been arrested in the U.S.

An investigation into the criminal ring's activities began about four months ago in March when a shipment containing 69 fire arms of various types and calibres, as well as a large amount of ammunition, was found and recalled by U.S. authorities in Naples, Italy. This led to the arrest of the suspected ring leader by U.S. authorities in early June.

Based on the findings of U.S. authorities, the Greek-American was buying the weapons and the ammunition in the U.S. and loading them onto cars that he owned that were then sent by ship to Naples, where they were picked up by the two Greek suspects from Zakynthos.

The greater part of the arms shipments were then sent to Crete to be picked up by a third suspect, a 67-year-old man from a village in Rethymno.

Using this method, the group had imported 40 fire arms, mostly revolvers and other handguns, and some 1500 bullets into Greece in January 2010. These guns, based on the findings of the investigation, mostly ended up on the island of Zakynthos where police have arrested two men aged 37 and 44 years old, respectively, in connection with the case.

Greek authorities also found and confiscated a Marlin 0.22 rifle and a revolver believed to originate from the same 2010 shipment in a specially designed cache within the home of one of the suspects.

In Athens, in the home belonging to the ring leader, police found and confiscated three electronic evacuation devices, a hunting shotgun and various documents concerning the arrival in Greece and the trip to Italy carried out by members of the organisation in March 2012 in order to pick up the shipment that was intercepted and confiscated.

Evidence collected at the home of the 67-year-old suspect in Rethymno included a military rifle, a telescopic sight, fire arm components and various types of ammunition, as well as the telephone number that he used to contact the group's leader.

The organised crime ring is believed to have earned large sums through its activities, while the police are continuing the investigation in the framework of international police cooperation.

UN report: Iran defying international community with illegal arms shipments

Report by UN Security Council committee highlights three large illegal shipments of Iranian arms over past year, two to Syria and one to Afghanistan.

A ship that was suspected earlier this year of carrying Iranian weapons to Syria.

A UN Security Council committee has published a report on Iranian sanctions violations, including shipments of weapons to Syria in breach of a UN ban on weapons exports by Iran.

The Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its nuclear enrichment program, which the United States, European Union and their allies suspect is at the heart of a weapons program. Iran rejects the allegation and refuses to halt what it says is a peaceful energy program.

The report appeared on the committee website on Thursday, diplomats told Reuters on Friday. The report, which Reuters reported on last month, said that Syria remains the top destination for Iranian arms shipments.

Iran, like Russia, is one of Syria's few allies as it presses ahead with a 16-month-old assault on opposition forces determined to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Western diplomats said

Saved

they were pleased the report was made public. Initially they said they feared Russia would block it as it did last year's report on Iran, which has yet to be made public due to Russian objections.

Publication of the report, the diplomats said, will likely add to the pressure on Iran to comply with UN demands about curbing sensitive nuclear activities as major powers press ahead with negotiations with Iran aimed at convincing it that defiance of international sanctions will be too costly.

The new report, submitted by a panel of sanctions-monitoring experts to the Security Council's Iran sanctions committee, said the group investigated three large illegal shipments of Iranian weapons over the past year.

"Iran has continued to defy the international community through illegal arms shipments," it stated.

"Two of these cases involved (Syria), as were the majority of cases inspected by the Panel during its previous mandate, underscoring that Syria continues to be the central party to illicit Iranian arms transfers," the report said.

The third shipment involved rockets that Britain said last year were headed for Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

The kinds of arms that Iran was attempting to send to Syria before the shipments were seized by Turkish authorities included assault rifles, machineguns, explosives, detonators, 60mm and 120mm mortal shells and other items, the panel said.

The most recent incident described in the report was an arms shipment discovered in a truck that Turkey seized on its border with Syria in February. Turkey announced last year that it was imposing an arms embargo on Syria.

Blacklist

The expert panel recommended adding three firms to a UN blacklist of companies that have aided Iran's nuclear or missile programs, or have helped it evade UN sanctions.

The three firms recommended for blacklisting are airline Yas Air, SAD Import Export Company, and Chemical Industries and Development of Materials group. The report said Yas Air has been involved in illicit arms shipments to Syria.

It was not clear when the Iran sanctions committee would make a decision on whether or not to add the three Iranian companies to the list of entities facing an international asset freeze and banishment from doing business worldwide.

Earlier this year the U.S. Treasury Department imposed U.S. sanctions on Yas Air, which is an Iranian cargo airline, along with three Iranian military officials and a Nigerian shipping agent for supporting illegal arms shipments to the Middle East and Africa.

The 67-page report also discusses Iran's attempts to circumvent sanctions on its nuclear program but notes that the four rounds of punitive measures the 15-nation council imposed on Iran between 2006 and 2010 are having an impact.

"Sanctions are slowing Iran's procurement of some critical items required for its prohibited nuclear program," it said. "At the same time prohibited activities continue, including uranium enrichment."

A similar UN report on North Korean sanctions violations was also made public on Friday.