Lebanon seizes ammunition cargo

Lebanese authorities have seized 60,000 rounds of ammunition hidden in two cars on an Italian container ship docked at Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli, a security source said on Tuesday. The source did not say where the shipment was heading, but the ship’s owner said the vessel was travelling to Tripoli in Lebanon. The two cars, searched on Monday, held 60,000 bullets including rounds for 9mm pistols and Kalashnikov (AK-47) rifles, the source said. "The ship is Italian but picked up the two cars in the Egyptian port of Alexandria," he added. In late April, Lebanese authorities seized a large consignment of Libyan ammunitions from a ship intercepted in the Mediterranean. The cargo of the ship contained heavy machineguns, artillery shells, rockets, rocket launchers and other explosives. The Sierra Leone-flagged Lutfallah II was also called at the Egyptian port of Alexandria en route from Libya before heading to Selaata, a small port some 50km (30 miles) north of Beirut.