Weapons bound for Iran seized aboard ANL ship

Weapons bound for Iran seized aboard ANL ship    Officials in Abu Dhabi found a shipment of weapons headed to Iran from North Korea aboard an ANL container vessel in July, international news outlets reported over the weekend.
   The shipment contained rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition and other items in a consignment of 10 containers that were labeled as carrying oil boring machines. The shipment appears to have breached United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874, which bans all arms exports from North Korea and authorizes states to search suspicious ships and seize and destroy banned items, Reuters reported.
   The seized ship was the ANL Australia, which is flagged in the Bahamas. ANL, formerly the national shipping line of Australia, is a wholly owned subsidiary of French container line CMA CGM. The ship was allowed to leave Abu Dhabi once the containers were offloaded.
   The shipment was apparently arranged by the Shanghai office of an Italian company, though authorities weren't releasing the name of the company.
   Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Sunday his government would investigate the case to determine whether there was a breach of Australian law, The Australian reported Monday.
   “Australian laws implementing U.N. Security Council resolutions apply both in Australia as well as to Australian citizens abroad and corporations anywhere in the world,” an Australia Foreign Affairs spokesman told the newspaper.