Ghost ship with 20,000 Kalashnikovs in the Aegean

This unprecedented case has started unfolding since Friday morning, when the Coast Guard stopped the cargo ship «Nourm» under a Sierra Leone flag, off the coast of Symi.

The cargo ship with an 8-person crew was trying to move toward the Turkish coast to avoid the control of the Hellenic Coast Guard. But Greek commandos went onboard and found that out of the 59 containers on the ship 56 of them contained about 20,000 Kalashnikovs.

So far the destination port of the ship is still unknown. The captain claimed he was heading towards the Turkish coast, but the course given to the computer systems of the ship showed that «Nourm» was on a route to Tripoli, Libya.

The ship was located early in the morning Friday, 8-11 from patrol vessels of the Hellenic Coast Guard west southwest of Symi, under commands of Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis for constant surveillance and protection of the eastern sea border of the country. The ship is under a Sierra Leone flag and was moving suspiciously, constantly changing its course. The Coast Guard officers contacted the captain who did not give clear answers about where he was going and what he was carrying. Initially he said he had left Ukraine and was bound for the Turkish port of Iskenderun - Alexandretta..

The ship accompanied by Hellenic Coast Guard ships the port of Rhodes for further investigation.