The Washington Post: Egyptian businessmen are the most important customers of North Korean weapons

The Washington Post reported details of the seizure of a North Korean ship laden with weapons, which arrived in Egypt in August 2016, citing the involvement of Egyptian businessmen in arms smuggling from Pyongyang.

The report, based on US and Western officials who had seen the UN report on the ship carrying 30,000 missiles, said America had sent a warning to Egypt about the suspect ship.

Egyptian security forces raided the ship and announced the seizure of the largest amount of weapons smuggled from North Korea since the start of international sanctions.

But the details of the details by Washington and the Security Council have raised suspicions that the vessel, which was flying Cambodia flag to cover up its scheme, was not passing through the Suez Canal by chance, but was on its way to Egypt. , Were selling arms to the Egyptian army.

Although the Egyptian side confirmed its commitment to international resolutions on North Korea, the UN report on the ship incident accused Cairo of violating the Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Pyongyang and isolating it over the development of the nuclear program.

The deal failed because of a US intelligence warning that revealed the shipment, forcing the Egyptian authorities to move and control and destroy the weapons, the newspaper said, quoting former and current US officials who declined to be named.

Officials said the ship incident was one of a series of secret deals that prompted US President Donald Trump to freeze financial aid to Egypt worth about $ 290 million in June.

Source: Washington Post