Iron Dome Defense Missiles Seized by Finland, Labeled “Fireworks”
69 Newest Patriot Missiles Bound For Reds
By Gordon Duff,www.veteranstoday.com
Finnish authorities have confirmed the seizure of 69 Patriot
missiles manufactured by Raytheon Corporation today. During a routine
search of the MS Thor Liberty, a ship flagged by the Isle of Man, at the
Finnish port of Kotka, authorities found 69 Patriot missiles of a type
capable of intercepting ICBMs, the most modern available and America’s
most sensitive military technology.
The next stop for this cargo, valued at over $4 billion even without
the associated radar, which may well have been shipped via some other
method, was Shanghai, China. Yet the Chinese government has given an
official denial of any knowledge of this transaction. They went even
further, they claimed the missiles were heading to South Korea.
However, were China to have given the issue a second’s thought, it would
have been advisable to have failed to acknowledge any familiarity with
the issue whatsoever.
China walked into a trap.
The US and Israel had scheduled an air defense exercise this week but
no Patriot missiles were to be shipped to Israel as part of their
mission, DOD sources indicate. This week’s exercise was to use Patriot
missiles deployed from American ships in the eastern Mediterranean to
test Israeli missile defenses. Reports indicate that all missiles for
this exercise have been accounted for.
These units, the most advanced Patriot system had only been supplied
to nation, Israel. The 69 Patiot ICBM interceptors are believed to be a
highly secret consignment demanded by Israel as protection from any
retaliatory strike by Iran were war to break out in the region, Instead
of deploying them, the missiles were apparently sold to China labeled
as “fireworks” accoring to Interior Minister Paivi Rasanen.
Though the missiles themselves were worth only $4 billion, the
technology transfer itself would be worth over $125 billion, and
represent a signficant loss of defense capability for the United
States. Sources termed it, “An absolute disaster, even if they only
received the radar systems alone, much less the missiles. That this
would go unreported though the story was broken in Europe 48 hours ago
is astounding. Nobody in Washington has this although even the BBC report contains more than enough information to bring Washington to a halt.
DOD sources indicate that it would be unusual for these missiles to
be moved without radar and launch facilities to have been moved in
advance. It was also indicated that the Department of Defense denies
shipping any such missies to Germany or anywhere else in Europe, labeled
as “fireworks” or anything else.
The owner of the ship of record is Thorco Shipping. Their
representative, Thomas Mikkelsen said he was unaware any such cargo was
onboard his vessel.
Claims were made that the missiles were destined for South Korea but
an examination of documentation indicated that there were no South
Korean ports scheduled. Additionally, the liklihood that the US
government would ship its most valuable and secret missile technology
through Germany mislabeled as “fireworks” rather than on a C 17 under
miltiary security supports the Finnish claim.
Finnish police say they opened all 69 units, are recording serial
numbers and have been unable to find any documentation indicating the
real ownership of the seized cargo.
Detective Superintendent Timo Virtanen of the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation is in charge of the case. He has stated:
“Actually, in our investigation at the moment, we have got the information that we found 69 Patiot missiles on the ship and around 160 tonnes of explosives.”
The explosives are identified as nitroguandine, a low sensitivity explosive with a very high tetonation speed. These explosives have several uses, among them launching shipboard or submarine launched missiles or in the development and testing of nuclear weapons design.
Finnish authorities indicate the explosives were packed in an “informal” and highly dangerous manner.
Finnish authorities indicate that the Thor Liberty’s captaina and
chief officer are under arrest on suspicion of arms trafficking. Both
are citizens of the Ukraine.
The government of China has denied all knowledge of the incident although the cargo was destined for their ports.
The head of Finnish Customs CID, Petri Louatmaa said this was not the
first such incident but by far the most serious he has ever heard of.
Finland has requested “information” from several countries.
The US Department of Defense has assured all involved that these
missiles were not being sent to South Korea and that their presence on a
civilian ship either being loaded in Germany or in port in Finland was
in now way a part of any exercise nor any accepted methodology for the
handling of this type of ultra-high technology weaponry. American
sources further indicated confusion at the odd number of missiles:
“There are two missiles per launch container. The containers can’t be easily opened and the missiles can’t be removed for examination without damage to the launch mechanism. They are delivered for mounting to ships or land based mobile launchers. Thus, the packaging indicated either demonstrates confusion or serious unprofessional tampering.”
Israeli officials have failed to respond to questions about the consignment.
Air Force transport command personnel indicate that high tech
transfers to Israel are routinely offloaded at Schipol Airport in the
Netherlands where Israel maintains secure facilities.
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