Eunavfor Seizes More Than Two Dozen Armored Vehicles Bound for Libya

An EU military vessel operating under EUNAVFOR’s Operation Irini spotted a Dutch-flagged cargo ship, the Meerdijk on October 11th. The ship was allegedly on its way to Libya and officials from Operation Irini suspected the ship of carrying banned armaments for one of Libya’s warring factions.

Curiously enough, despite the ship carrying contraband, the AIS was turned on and was showing a position 30nm off the coast. A part of the consignment of armored vehicles was on deck, without even a tarpaulin to conceal it.

Permission was swiftly obtained from the Meerdijk’s flag state of the Netherlands to board the vessel. Upon boarding, the ship was found to be transporting “vehicles modified for military use”. Since this was a suspected breach of the UN arms embargo, the ship was diverted to the port of Marseilles for a more thorough inspection. A total of 28 armoured vehicles were found in the vessel. The cargo was examined by a UN panel of experts and was seized and stowed away on shore.

The armored vehicle being transported has been identified to be the UAE-built TAG BATT UMG. This vehicle is a lightly armoured infantry mobility vehicle based on a Ford Chassis. TAG’s other products have been observed in the possession of warlord Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army. This particular faction has the backing of the UAE according to open-source intelligence by the Oryx group.

Operators of the Meerdijk however have faced no fines or prosecution according to the Dutch news outlet RTL. The operators stated that they owned the proper documentation for the cargo and the ship has already resumed normal commercial operations.

This is the second instance of a Libya Bound armament shipment being intercepted by Irini in less than 5 months. Back in July, the MV Victory Roro was found transporting dozens of vehicles modified for military use. The ship was diverted to an EU port, the cargo assessed, and consequently seized for violating the UN arms embargo.