View Full Version : Finland impounds shipment of Patriot missiles, explosives in ship destined for Shangh
kraznyi_oktjabr
12-21-11, 04:45 PM
HELSINKI — Finnish authorities on Wednesday impounded 160 tons of explosives and 69 surface-to-air missiles found on a British-flagged cargo ship ultimately destined for Shanghai, China, officials said.
Article continues here (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/finnish-police-find-shipment-of-patriot-missiles-in-ship-destined-for-shanghai/2011/12/21/gIQA1sEA9O_story.html)
Last updated: 21 December 2011 at 22:16 (U.S. East Coast)
Jimbuna
12-21-11, 05:09 PM
Where did those Patriots come from? :hmmm:
Skybird
12-21-11, 05:27 PM
Where did those Patriots come from? :hmmm:
Maybe a Chinese callback to remedy a technical problem?
:D
Rockstar
12-21-11, 05:36 PM
Where did those Patriots come from? :hmmm:
Germany maybe? I've read South Korea has purchased second hand Patriot missile systems from them before.
http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050713111046.9zsykm7x.html
.
I love the fact they were in a box marked 'Fireworks' :har::har::har:
Jimbuna
12-21-11, 07:39 PM
Maybe a Chinese callback to remedy a technical problem?
:D
I love the fact they were in a box marked 'Fireworks' :har::har::har:
LOL :DL
Germany maybe? I've read South Korea has purchased second hand Patriot missile systems from them before.
http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050713111046.9zsykm7x.html
.
If they are intended for China surely the Germans wouldn't want to get involved :hmmm:
Fincuan
12-21-11, 07:51 PM
If they are intended for China surely the Germans wouldn't want to get involved :hmmm:
The latest news up here is that they're indeed coming from Germany and intended for South Korea, like RS said. Apparently some shipping documents relating to South Korea have been found inside the containers. They're just supposed to be transported via China for some reason, or the ship was supposed to make a port call in China before heading to ROK. An anonymous employee of the company responsible for the shipment commented that they might have loaded the missiles onto a wrong ship by accident(yeah right).
In any case does anyone want to sell us some Patriot launchers, radars and support vehicles now that we've got a bunch of missiles? :D
Jimbuna
12-21-11, 08:07 PM
The latest news up here is that they're indeed coming from Germany and intended for South Korea, like RS said. Apparently some shipping documents relating to South Korea have been found inside the containers. They're just supposed to be transported via China for some reason, or the ship was supposed to make a port call in China before heading to ROK. An anonymous employee of the company responsible for the shipment commented that they might have loaded the missiles onto a wrong ship by accident(yeah right).
In any case does anyone want to sell us some Patriot launchers, radars and support vehicles now that we've got a bunch of missiles? :D
China might have a few going cheap seeing as how they're no longer going to get the missiles :DL
Penguin
12-22-11, 06:18 AM
In any case does anyone want to sell us some Patriot launchers, radars and support vehicles now that we've got a bunch of missiles? :D
Sorry, we prefer to sell our good equipment to countries that kill witches. You have got to work on this first before we can deliver stuff.
stormrider_sp
12-22-11, 08:00 AM
China might have a few going cheap seeing as how they're no longer going to get the missiles :DL
The fact that one ship was seized doesnt mean there arent more. As we already know the Chinese, right now they´re probably reverse-engineering them.
I cant believe Germany would send officialy or unofficialy patriot missiles to china.
Its not exactly RPG launcher....
kraznyi_oktjabr
12-22-11, 01:51 PM
I cant believe Germany would send officialy or unofficialy patriot missiles to china.
Its not exactly RPG launcher....As this mess unravels current summary of explanations of events is:
- Germany sell Patriots to South Korea
-> missiles are loaded to ship in Emden travelling to South Korea via Finland and China (!)
-> South Korea and shipping company should do necessary paperwork
-> no one does paper work
-> somebode writes "fireworks" into container
-> missiles are found (read events from post below)
= police has a lot hard questions for ya...
Story have changed at least once so far so Germany, South Korea and shipping company has few things to explain.
Fincuan
12-22-11, 02:09 PM
-> somebode writes "fireworks" into container
-> harbour employees (?) call police
It started unravelling when the stevedores noticed dangerously packed explosives(nitroguanidine) onboard and alerted authorities. The authorities then inspected the entire cargo.
kraznyi_oktjabr
12-22-11, 02:25 PM
It started unravelling when the stevedores noticed dangerously packed explosives(nitroguanidine) onboard and alerted authorities. The authorities then inspected the entire cargo.Thank you! :salute:
- Sell missiles to ROK
- ???
- Profit!
soopaman2
12-22-11, 03:16 PM
British flagged?
What are you guys doing, assisting in Chinas famous reverse engineering programs (aka stealing techs).
Or is it a black flag operation?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag
Question is who would strategically profit from such a find?
It's not British...it's the Isle of Man...
We don't talk about them... :nope:
Seriously, I have no idea why it would be flying an Isle of Man flag...it's all rather strange. :doh:
soopaman2
12-22-11, 03:35 PM
It's not British...it's the Isle of Man...
We don't talk about them... :nope:
Seriously, I have no idea why it would be flying an Isle of Man flag...it's all rather strange. :doh:
Hence my suspicion of a false flag op. I can't see this happening under the union jack legally.
Or it could have just been some Yahoo using the flag to be left alone. I am interested in the ships port of registry.
Osmium Steele
12-22-11, 03:42 PM
- Sell missiles to ROK
- ???
- Profit!
OMG, they killed Kenny!
Osmium Steele
12-22-11, 03:44 PM
Seriously, return the missiles, and you can keep Adam Lambert (http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1676413/adam-lambert-arrested.jhtml?asid=ba4546f9).
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.387665!/img/httpImage/image.jpg
Skybird
12-23-11, 06:48 AM
Looks like a Finnish fault. They admitted to have mis-translated the word "rocket" as "fireworks". Also, the explosives seem to have valid papers and beeing legal. Der Spiegel reports the German defence ministry confirmed the deal with South Korea for the Patriots has been fixed already in 2007.
Anyhow, to me Patriots are no rockets but missiles. :know: A FFAR is a rocket.
Fincuan
12-23-11, 08:06 AM
Aye, that translation error is awkward indeed. In any case the wrap-up at the moment goes about like this:
The explosives were entirely legal, with proper permits but improperly packed. They had already been thrown around inside the ship during the storm it went through to get here.
The missiles were properly packed, marked as rockets(literally) but without proper permits needed for transporting weapons material through Finland. The deal and the destination seem completely normal, like Skybird said. The customs officials have confiscated them now and FDF is holding them at least pending the preliminary investigation. Normal procedure here.
Adam Lambert has also been let out now and no charges will be filed. You can have him back. As you can see the week has been filled with news, given that we basically have two of the biggest stories in one post here :D
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