Jihadists groups including Al-Qaeda continue to receive arms coming through Balkan and Gulf countries. An article written by Diana Mikhailova and giving details on how Bulgarian arms are distributed in Syria by Saudia money has originally been published in Trud and its translation in therussophile.org. It is reported that the Denmark-flagged Marianne Danica cargo ship has arrived in the biggest seaport in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on April 6, 2017.
A CARGO SHIP LOADED WITH TONS OF WEAPONS
The ship had left Burgas ten days earlier (March 28) loaded with tonnes of weapons, a fact confirmed by Marinetraffic.com satellite tracking data, therussophile.org reported.
The ship was declared as carrying a Hazard A (Major) dangerous cargo, which in accordance with the International Cargo Classification system denotes weapons and explosives, citing resources.
The Bulgarian weapons shipments are not meant for Saudi Arabia which could not use it in any event, as its military uses only Western weapons, it added.
According to the sources, in December 2016, Trud reporters discovered Bulgarian weapons manufactured at VMZ-Sopot, in 9 An-Nusra jihadists’ storage facilities in eastern Aleppo in Syria. In spite of the ban on exporting weapons due to the war in Syria, two million shells and 4 thousand Grad rockets have made their way from Bulgaria to the jihadists in Aleppo.
WEAPON TRANSFERRED TWO TIMES IN A MONTH
According to the sources, this was only one of many regular Burgas-Jeddah trips made by Marianne Danica during the recent months. According to Marinetraffic.com archives, this ship departed Burgas on March 7 and arrived in Jeddah on March 17. After a 12-hour port stay for unloading, it returns to Burgas on March 28 at 9 am.
Trud asked the VMZ-Sopot arms manufacturer for comments but, in spite of numerous requests, they have not received a single answer, it added.
WEAPONS GOING TO AL-QAEDA
In an exclusive interview with Trud, Colonel Malik Al-Kurdi, a commander within the Free Syrian Army which is the West’s ally in its effort to overthrow the Syrian government, said that Saudi Arabia, together with intelligence services of 15 other countries, sends weapons to Syrian jihadists under the guise of aiding “moderate opposition”, citing the sources.
According to Al-Kurdi, there is a headquarters comprising representatives of 15 countries, located in Turkey and Jordan. He states that they clearly warned the Americans and Europeans that the weapons which are passing through the FSA General HQ are going to organisations which the West has declared to be terrorist organisations. It’s a double game–on the one hand, these organisations are labelled as terrorists, but on the other–they are receiving weapons through that HQ, he added.
TWO US FIRMS INCLUDED
Trud’s investigation has shown that VMZ-Sopot has a contract on supplying weapons with two US firms, Chemring and its affiliate Chemring Ordnance, and Orbital ATK. Both firms are US government contractors. In 2016 alone, Chemring obtained two contracts worth $47 million for supplying weapons which are not compatible with US systems (in this instance, Bulgarian), under the Non-Standard Weapons Acquisition Program.
It is reported that Orbital ATK received a contract to procure non-US weapons worth $50 million under the same program on January 27, 2016. Orbital ATK did not respond to Trud inquiries concerning which US allies were receiving VMZ-Sopot weapons.
In its reply to Trud, according to the sources, Chemring claimed that the information is confidential and recommended contacting VMZ-Sopot; and Trud’s investigation has shown this is not the first time the ship was used to transport weapons to problem regions.
