Australian navy says it seized weapons headed for Somalia

CANBERRA, Australia – The Australian navy says one of its warships has seized a large weapons cache from a fishing boat headed for Somalia.

A Defense Department statement issued Monday said the guided missile frigate HMAS Darwin was carrying out counterterrorism operations in the Middle East when it intercepted a fishing boat 313 kilometers (194 miles) from Oman to conduct a flag verification boarding.

After determiningthe boat to be stateless, the boarding team found 1,989 AK-47 assault rifles, 100 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, 49 PKM general purpose machine guns, 39 PKM spare barrels and 20 60mm mortar tubes.

The statement did not say where the weapons and fishing boat crew were from or when the interception occurred. The department did not immediately respond to questions.