JERUSALEM - Israeli navy on Sunday evening boarded a ship carrying a Liberian flag on Mediterranean waters, on suspicions that it was carrying weapons to the Gaza strip.
Navy commandoes inspected the "HS Beethoven" ship near the coast of Lebanon for a routine security check, Ha'aretz daily reported.
Though the navy had suspicions that the ship, which was scheduled to arrive in Alexandria of Egypt, could be carrying weapons to smuggle into Gaza or Egypt, nothing has been found during the inspection.
"In the framework of the Navy's routine activity aimed at preventing smuggling, a naval force stopped the Liberian-flagged cargo ship some 160 miles (about 257 km) off Israel's coast. The search is being conducted with the captain's authorization. If no suspicious items are found, the ship will continue on its way," Israel Defense Forces told local media.
Last year, Israeli navy seized a similar ship under Liberian flag carrying a weapon's cache thought to be destined for the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip, also heading to the same port in Egypt.
The navy found around 50 tons of Iranian-supplied weaponry hidden in the ship, including radar guided anti-ship missiles, that the army believed were going to be used against Israeli targets.
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