French Seize SAM Missiles, Other Arms Destined for IRA
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BREST, France — French officials said Tuesday that they seized more than 150 tons of arms and explosives destined for the Irish Republican Army, including thousands of machine guns and 20 Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles.
Customs officials said the arms confiscated Friday from the Panamanian-registered Eksund II cargo ship apparently were all Soviet made, including 20 shoulder-fired SAM-7 missiles, about 10 tons of mortar shells, several thousand heavy machine guns and ammunition, automatic pistols and rocket-propelled grenades.
The government prosecutor in Brest told a press conference Tuesday night that the arms “were all destined” for the IRA--the outlawed Irish Republican Army fighting British rule in Northern Ireland.
In London, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher thanked French authorities for the seizure that “without a doubt permitted the saving of a large number of lives in Northern Ireland and elsewhere.”
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