Italian customs police and customs authorities announced on Tuesday (July 2) that they had intercepted and seized a batch of Chinese-made military drones originally destined for Libya. These drones were disguised as wind turbine equipment.
According to a report by Reuters citing a joint statement issued by Italian customs, the dismantled drones were hidden in six containers at the Gioia Tauro seaport in Italy, disguised as wind turbine blades.
The statement added that considering the ongoing international arms embargo imposed on war-torn Libya, these supplies have been confiscated.
This seems to confirm a report by the Italian national daily newspaper “Corriere della Sera” in June. The report stated that on June 18, Italian security forces, in cooperation with US intelligence agencies, intercepted a shipment of weapons bound for Libya at the Gioia Tauro port, with some analysts suspecting they were military drones.
According to “Corriere della Sera,” the ship MSC Arina departed from the port of Yantian in Shenzhen, China on April 30, made a stop in Singapore, circumvented the Cape of Good Hope, avoiding the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, and then entered the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar. It was only upon its arrival at Gioia Tauro port that US authorities decided to seize the weapons shipment and seek assistance from allies.
The report mentioned that US intelligence strongly suspected that the destination of the ship was the port city of Benghazi in northern Libya.
Benghazi is the coastal center of the warlord Khalifa Haftar and his tribal factions, who control parts of eastern and southern Libya. It is also an entry point for a large number of weapons and thousands of Russian mercenaries.
Exporting military equipment to Libya violates UN sanctions.
It is believed that the value of these millions of dollars’ worth of weapons destined for Benghazi, Libya, is intended for the forces led by the eastern Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar.
The MSC Arina was not seized and departed Gioia Tauro port for the western Mediterranean on June 20. When asked about the incident, MSC informed “Corriere della Sera” that the company was unaware of any containers being seized.
The interception of Chinese-made military drones in this incident coincides with growing tensions between the US and Russia over the situation in Libya.
On June 12, the US Treasury announced an expansion of sanctions against Russia, including the Russian state-owned company GOZNAK, accusing it of printing counterfeit Libyan currency worth over $1 billion to support Haftar and Moscow-backed militias in Libya.
In 2011, with NATO support, Libya erupted in rebellion that led to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, plunging the country into chaos with rival governments in the east and west.