NATIONAL

Firearms dropped into sea while being loaded onto ship

(UTV | COLOMBO) – A share of a load of the firearms belonging to a maritime security company had fallen into the sea and disappeared when the batch of weapons was going to be delivered to a ship transporting goods from Indonesia to Spain. This was stated in a complaint made by the skipper of the boat which carried the firearms to the Galle Harbour police.

According to the complaint, a Russian captain, three members of the Rakna Lanka Security Company, and three personnel from the Southern Naval Base had boarded the vessel on the 28th evening with firearms and other equipment released from the naval base.

About 10 nautical miles off the coast of Galle, the firearms and other equipment were being loaded onto the ship by a crane when the crane hit the ship’s hull due to bad weather and high winds and the entire load of weapons had dropped into the sea.

When the incident was reported to the Galle Southern Naval Base, two naval vessels had immediately reached the spot and searched the area. However they had been able to find only a part of them – 14 semi-automatic firearms, 2,400 rounds of ammunition, luggage boxes and a large quantity of equipment could not be found. The captain of the ship had come ashore with the three naval officers on board the boat which carried the firearms. The Navy has launched a special search operation to find the missing firearms and equipment that had fallen into the sea. Harbour Police are conducting further investigations.

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