The Iranian Mystery Ship: Death from the Sea , page 2
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ATS Members have flagged this thread 16 times


reply posted on 5-10-2008 @ 11:08 AM by friendforafoe
Hey guys, I tried starting a thread about this, but for some reason, nobody looked at it, and the information is somewhat related to the IRAN DEYANAT situation. The whole "nuclear material" and "pirates dying" thing started with this guy that you'll read about below. Now his reporting is getting skewed by rumors and people creating stories.

Dirty bomb?! Are you effing kidding me?? Seriously guys...

Originally posted by friendforafoe

Kenyan maritime spokesman arrested over alleged connection with Somali pirates


www.apanews.net
APA-Nairobi (Kenya) The spokesman of the Kenya Seafarers Assistance programme, Andrew Mwangura, who broke the news about the Ukrainian ship hijacked by Somali pirates believed to be carrying military equipments, has been arrested by Kenya police on suspicion of having links with the buccaneers that are demanding a ransom of US$30 million for the release of the ship.

Local media reports confirmed on Thursday that the police arrested Mwangura on Wednesday night for allegedly issuing alarmist statements to the media over the hijacked ship, and the police are of the believe that he has connections with the pirates.
(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
news.bbc.co.uk
ap.google.com

[edit on 2-10-2008 by friendforafoe]


Originally posted by friendforafoe

Alright guys ... this is what I've been trying to tell you about Mr.Mwangura ... this guy is not a credible source by any means. At my job, we routinely get open source reports with him as the source or spokesperson ... 9/10 he's wrong. I'll give him credit and say that he IS good at reporting when and where an attack took place, BUT anything to do with crewmember atmospherics (well-being, etc), details of attack / cargo, who's involved, etc etc are dead wrong.

He was arrested for making false and alarming statements regarding pirated vessels ... that's considered a crimnal act by Kenya's criminal procedure code and rightly so because falsifying information to retain his title of self-proclaimed "insider into pirate activites" and to garner international media attention as this guru of all that is piracy is effin wrong.

It's a shame that he's been getting calls from fox news, cnn, bbc, etc because his wildly inaccurate and exaggerated claims are getting eaten up by the press and a lot of people see what's in the news as gospel. We know where I work to take everything this guy says with a grain of salt, but we do our research with our means and ways and debunk him every time.

He reported three pirates died onboard M/V FAINA after they shot eachother over disagreements over ransom negotiations ... this did not happen

He reported there were chemical weapons onboard M/V FAINA ... there isn't. We know what's on the cargo manifest, we know what's inside ... there's NO chemical weapons

He claimed the M/V IRAN DEYANAT was carrying chemical and "nuclear" materials onboard and that pirates lost hair, suffered severe skin burns, and died ... there definitely isn't, because we would definitely know about it, Iran would be in a sh!t-ton of trouble, this vessel would have already been procured by us and the situation would have been resolved. This vessel is carrying nothing more than 40k+ tons of iron ore and ransom negotiations are ongoing. nobody died.

To the people that ask questions rather than look at his reporting (or anything you see in the news) as gospel, kudos to you. Do your research and don't jump to conclusions because when that happens, people eat it up and cry conspiracy. Deny ignorance is the motto for a reason

Some more links for ya ....



www.apanews.net
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 2-10-2008 by friendforafoe]




reply posted on 5-10-2008 @ 11:23 AM by ballast
Pwww.longwarjournal.org...

Hijacked late last month in the Gulf of Aden, the MV Iran Deyanat remains moored offshore in Somali waters and inaccessible for inspection. Its declared cargo consists of minerals and industrial products, however, Somali and regional officials directly involved in the negotiations over the ship and who spoke to The Long War Journal are convinced that it was heading to Eritrea to deliver small arms and chemical weapons to Somalia's Islamist insurgents.
Suspicion has also been cast on the ship's crew, half of which is almost entirely staffed by Iranians - a large percentage of Iranian nationals for a standard merchant vessel. Somali officials say that the ship has a crew of 29 men, including a Pakistani captain, an Iranian engineer, 13 other Iranians, 3 Indians, 2 Filipinos, and 10 Eastern Europeans, possibly Croatian.

and was secured by a larger gang of pirates - 50 onboard and 50 onshore. Within days, pirates who had boarded the ship developed strange health complications, skin burns and loss of hair. Independent sources tell The Long War Journal that a number of pirates have also died. "Yes, some of them have died.


reply posted on 5-10-2008 @ 11:48 AM by ballast
Here is a call from Iran to crack down on Somali pirates. Interesting date: September 21, 2008. The Iranian ship was siezed by the pirates on August 21, 2008.

www.tehrantimes.com...

“Failure to seriously respond to these unlawful actions will cause similar problems in other parts of the world and this would not be to the benefit of any country,” said the spokesman.

“The major powers’ negligence in tackling this issue and their efforts to put the blame on others… will intensify the insecurity.”

The MV Iran Deyanat is owned and operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) - a state-owned company run by the Iranian military that was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury on September 10, shortly after the ship's hijacking

The syndicate set the ship's ransom at $2 million and the Iranian government provided $200,000 to a local broker "to facilitate the exchange." Iran refutes that it agreed to the price and has paid any money to the pirates. Nevertheless, after sanctions were applied to IRISL on September 10, Osman says, the Iranians told the pirates that the deal was off. "They told the pirates that they could not come because of the presence of the U.S. Navy." The region is patrolled by the multinational Combined Taskforce 150, which includes ships from the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.

In a strange twist, the Iranian press claims that the U.S. has offered to pay a $7 million bribe to the pirates to "receive entry permission and search the vessel."

Notice it was the Iranian Press that said that the U.S. offered to pay $7 Million for the ship.

Who is trying to blame what on who? It seems clear that Russia has taken a part as well. Remember there is an international team there, so it's very unlikely that anyone will get away with hiding anything.


reply posted on 5-10-2008 @ 12:17 PM by ballast
reply to post by johnsky



The ship belongs to: The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, a state owned company. Here is another quote:

www.tbrnews.org...

"After September 10th, sanctions on IRISL were applied specifically because the company was said to engaged in illicit operations on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. "

The ship originally left Iran, both the route and the declared cargo was falsified.

China buys her oil from Iran and is very dependant on Iran for that oil. The ships manifest says that she stopped in China for a delivery.

There are a number of articles out there, I've listed some of them. You might want to do a little research.









[edit on 5-10-2008 by ballast]


reply posted on 5-10-2008 @ 12:27 PM by ballast
reply to post by Phatcat



The man was fired because of the Ukranian ship, not the Iranian ship. In addition he was suspected of working with the pirates, during negotiations. This remains to be seen.

The information on the Iranian ship has come from a number of sources. I've posted links.

It remains to be seen what will happen.

Here is a link regarding the Ukranian ship:

www.foxnews.com...

Let's all remember that this is a site to post this type of subject.


reply posted on 5-10-2008 @ 12:35 PM by friendforafoe
Some of you guys are bringing up the same points that were brought up in the previous IRAN DEYNAT thread ... honestly, stop reading what you see in the press and facilitate it as gospel. The WHOLE speculation of the vessel carrying nuclear materials started from Andrew Mwangura (spokesman for the Kenyan Seafarers Assistance Program) in a press release on 11 SEP and you know what? HE WAS JUST ARRESTED FOR MAKING FALSIFIED CLAIMS ABOUT SEVERAL SHIPS INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE M/V IRAN DEYANAT and it's "nuclear materials" and "pirates dying after opening cargo" and M/V FAINA with it's "chemical weapons" and "three pirates dying after a shootout onboard". He has been wildly exagerrating claims and falsifying information on these vessels and you know what? He's garnering constant local media attention (Shabelle Radio, Garowe Online) and now it's gone off to international media attention. The original press peice came out 11 SEP ... on 28 SEP is when bigger media snapped up the story and regurgitated it. THE MAN JUST GOT ARRESTED FOR MAKING ALL OF THIS UP!

Guys, believe me if there were ANY indications that the IRAN DEYANAT had that kind of material or were planning to do any of that dirty bomb business, we would definitely have done something by now.

I'm in the Navy stationed in NSA Bahrain right now (you can figure out where I work on your own) and I work with piracy off the HOA everyday and have been since the GOLDEN NORI incident in 2007 ... believe me when I say, we're monitoring all 12 of the currently pirated vessels (YENEGOA OCEAN, GREAT CREATION, GENIUS, STOLT VALOR, IRAN DEYANAT, IRENE, THOR STAR, STELLA MARIS, BRIGHT RUBY, FAINA, CAPTAIN STEFANOS, AND CENTAURI) through our multiple means and ways and there is NO indication that this vessel is carrying that kind of cargo (hell, the ship isn't even high on our priority list right now .... that'd be the FAINA). IF THERE WAS, something would have been done by now, believe me.

Also, DO YOU HONESTLY THINK WE WOULD PAY PIRATES $7 MILLION USD TO HIJACK A SHIP AND INSPECT IT?! NO! That press piece came from Iran ... guess who really doesn't like us right now? Have you thought long and hard? Good job, it's Iran and that press piece is called "PROPOGANDA" .... honestly, some of you guys really need to stop jumping to conclusions without evidence and living by them. If we did that where I work, we'd already be at war with Iran, we would have already done ground operations in Somalia, and my life here would be a living hell (Actively monitoring 12 pirated vessels is already pretty bad haha) ... and no, don't bring up Iraq, because that has nothing to do with any of this

I'm glad to see people asking questions, because being inquisitive is a good thing and it's the make of a good intelligence analyst. But being biased because of whatever political agenda or whatever it is that you want to see, you in fact SEE (OMFG that rock on mars looks like an alien skull ... though in all seriousness, it may be haha) clouds your perception and ultimately skews your judgement of a situation. Don't just look at things at face value ... do your research. I'm sorry if I'm coming off as an a-hole, but when you do this stuff for a living and you know the truth and then you see these kind of blantanly stretched press reports and then people freak out or cry conspiracy, it sucks in a big way, because I work my ass off ... I just want people to realize that. Nothing personal guys


reply posted on 5-10-2008 @ 12:37 PM by TrueAmerican
This is a dangerous situation for a number of reasons. And the big ticket item here imo is the symptoms of hair falling out, skin burns and deaths from the pirate inspection of just a bit of the cargo.

If it is a dirty bomb or nuclear waste, it would explain a few things:

1) The deaths/sickness
2) The USA's desire to inspect that cargo, to the point of offering $7 million to do it.
3) The reason that no country's navy can just blown them out of the water, at least not close to port. And I question a decision to blow up that ship anywhere, frankly, because if it IS a bomb or nuclear waste, the environmental consequences are just not worth it, even in open ocean. Currents will disperse that radiation of a very wide area.

But MAN, that ship came from China! So WTF is going on here. The big key is if they find any kind of detonating device. If there is one, then obviously it is a bomb. But that begs the question of who placed it there? The Chinese? The Iranians? And if so also, where exactly was it really headed? Wouldn't someone notice if that ship was traveling all the way around the coast of Africa, up through the Strait of Gibraltar, and into the Mediterranean Sea? I mean hell the US navy is there.

Do Iranian ships usually visit the ports of Israel? I find it hard to believe they would try that, whoever "they" is. My God, Somali pirates may have just averted World War 3. Depending on the size of the detonator and dispersal capability of the bomb, that could have rendered a huge portion if not all of Israel uninhabitable if the ship got within a few miles of the coast. But in that case it would be hard to believe that parts of Egypt and Turkey would not be affected too.

Jesus, that ranks right up there with the Barksdale incident, or much worse if it really is a dirty bomb. Unless someone can come up with a viable explanation for the symptoms of those pirates, my money's on nuclear waste. At least.

Edit to add: Another thing is also the issue of satellite detection of radiation signatures. I have to wonder if they are picking up anything.

[edit on 5-10-2008 by TrueAmerican]



reply posted on 5-10-2008 @ 12:43 PM by shermanium
reply to post by friendforafoe



This seems to make the most sense to me.

It's a great plotline though!


reply posted on 5-10-2008 @ 12:57 PM by ballast
Here is a couple of links to the Sanctions imposed against the shipping line:

news.bbc.co.uk...

www.haaretz.com...

www.marinelog.com..."Not only does IRISL facilitate the transport of cargo for U.N. designated proliferators, it also falsifies documents and uses deceptive schemes to shroud its involvement in illicit commerce," said Stuart Levey, U.S.Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. "IRISL's actions are part of a broader pattern of deception and fabrication that Iran uses to advance its nuclear and missile programs. That conduct should give pause to any financial institution or business still choosing to deal with Iran." According to information available to the U.S. government, IRISL also facilitates shipments of military-related cargo destined for Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL) and its subordinate entities, including organizations that have been designated by the United States pursuant to E.O. 13382 and listed by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1737 and 1747.


reply posted on 5-10-2008 @ 01:00 PM by TrueAmerican
reply to post by friendforafoe



Well great then, glad to hear it's fabrication.

I hope. But also beware that if it really is nuclear related cargo, just because you are stationed in the area, does not necessarily mean that you would be informed of this, pending high level decision of exactly what to do.

So yeah I got a question. If it's not nuclear cargo, then why hasn't some navy either stormed that ship and killed the pirates or blown the thing sky high? I find it hard to believe that international navies are just going to hand them the money, and watch with a salute as they sail right out of town with the money.
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