The Guardian of Nigeria is reporting that Senegal’s Port Authorities “seized three containers of ammunition from a Guyana-flagged cargo ship in the port of the capital Dakar, in a rare arms haul worth an estimated $5 million.”
“In a statement seen by Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Tuesday, Senegal’s customs agency said it had searched a ship named the Eolika when it stopped to refuel, after it had made “inconsistent declarations.” It was during that search that the shocking discovery was made by Customs Authorities and the crew detained.
The nationality of the crew members could not be verified up to press time. However, there is speculation that the crew in custody are most likely Guyanese and Ukrainians. However, Senegal’s customs agency spokesman would not confirm this information. The Eolika’s final destination according to its website is port Georgetown. The vessel was scheduled to arrive in Guyana on January 28th, 8 days from today.
Senegalese customs confiscated three containers of ammunition from a cargo ship “EOLIKA” currently sailing under the flag of #Guyanese in the port of the capital #Dakar. Rare arms shipment worth about $ 5 million. #Senegal #Guyana #illegal #weapons #smuggling #topstories pic.twitter.com/FnJoz7FNtp
— MariTimesCrimes (@MTC_blog) January 19, 2022
Authorities in Senegal were able to track the vessel’s last few stops using a “specialized website Vesselfinder which showed that the vessel had stopped in northern Italy and Spain’s Canary Islands en route to Dakar. The publication reported that “drugs are periodically found on vessels anchoring in the port of Dakar, an important trading hub on the Atlantic Ocean. However, arms hauls are rare.”
In May of 2015, days after the 2015 General and Regional Elections, a cache of arms and ammunition was found during the clearing of a cargo consignment at the GNIC Wharf, Georgetown, by GRA Officials. The find included two (2) AK 47 Rifles, four (4) 40 pistols, eleven (11) 9mm. pistols, fifteen (15) extra magazines for the firearms, 489 various caliber rounds for the firearms and a body protection vest, the Kaieteur News reported. The status of that find remains a mystery to this day.
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