A cargo inspection on March 21 revealed the presence of weapons,although the documents stated “car parts”. The plane was flying from Aleppo to Syria and received permission to cross Turkey on condition of a technical landing at Diyarbakir Airport.
The Il-76 belonging to YasAir Cargo Airlines contained 60 Ak-47s, 14 BKC/Bixis, 8,000 bullets, 560 60 mm mortar shells and 1,288 120 mm mortar shells. They are currently being stored at a military warehouse at Diyarbakir.
The plane’s crew was detained. They deny any knowledge about the weapons on their plane. The crew returned to Tehran on March 22.
The USA and Israel suspect Iran of using Syria as a channel for transporting arms to militants in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Iran and Syria deny the accusations.
The Israeli navy intercepted the Turkish vessel "Victoria", carrying a large shipment of arms on March 15. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the arms were intended for militants in the Gaza Strip.
Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi denied the accusations.
There was also information in March about South Korea and Singapore confiscating nuclear materials and weapons sent to Iran.
Two shipments of smuggled materials were detained at a Seoul airport in December and a Singapore airport in September 2010. They had over 400 containers with raw radioactive materials and aluminum powder, which can be used for warheads.
Three trailers with missiles, hand grenades, ammunition and other weapons were detained by the Nigerian special services at Port Lagos in October 2010. The containers were taken to Bandar-Abbas. The cargo sender demanded the containers be sent to Gambia. Iran said that the cargo was sent by a private company.
The weapons were alleged to have been sent for Hamas and Hezbollah.
