The Isle of Man-registered, Danish-owned Thor Liberty, which was packing 69 patriot
missiles and 160 tonnes of explosives
Posted on 12/23/2011 12:06:10 AM PST by bruinbirdman
Finnish police and customs authorities in the port of Kotka have discovered a large cargo of weapons and explosives on board a Danish-owned vessel arriving from Germany and bound for South kroea and China.
The Isle of Man-registered, Danish-owned Thor Liberty, which was packing 69 patriot
missiles and 160 tonnes of explosives
According to reports from Kotka, which is close to the Russian border, officers found 69 Patriot missiles and 160 tonnes of explosives on the Isle of Man-registered, Thor Liberty which is owned by Thorco Shipping, headquartered in Svendborg, Denmark.
The Swedish news agency TT reports Thorco’s CEO Thomas Mikkelsen as saying that he was surprised at the discovery, and with another Thorco employee suggesting the cargo may have been loaded by mistake.
The Thor Liberty arrived in Finland from Germany and was on its way to Shanghai in China via South Korea when searched on December 15.
The Patriot missiles, which were marked as fireworks, are surface-to-air tactical defence and anti-ballistic missiles produced by the US Raytheon company and predominantly used by the US Army and other NATO allied nations. The missiles have also been sold to other non-NATO nations, including South Korea, which has purchased second-hand patriots from Germany.
South Korea purchased patriot systems following test launches of seven North Korean ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan in July 2006.
"This incident is exceptional because of the amount of the materials and the type. Personally I cannot remember a case of this magnitude in recent years," Head of Finnish customs anti-crime unit Petri Lounatmaa tells the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation YLE.
"When this huge amount of explosives are being transported and safety measures are not observed, it does indeed arouse suspicious and concerns," Lounatmaa adds.
What the f...??
Supposedly for South Korea.
Did the Finns ever think this was a way to secretly ship anti missile technology to South Korea?
This smells highly of Eric Holder!
Response might be an OOPSY! from Germany.
The response I'd like to see is from Raytheon about this 'EXPORT CONTROLLED' material being forwarded by Germany in such a slip-shod manner.
Patriots for resale?
The spooky thing is the freighter had Red China on its manifest itinerary.
yitbos
Think Clinton and Campaign Donations
Hillary Clinton runs the State Dept.
That is spooky but as flaky as this all is should we take it at face value that the stated destination was the real one? There's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip.
Well, they did lie about the cargo.
One could surnise that it was an authorized transfer, but that, given recent defense alerts because of NK situation, NATO didn't want to let the commies (NK or PRC) know. Finland is not a member of NATO, so they were not advised in advance.
yitbos
It is easy to see why the ChiComs would want to get their hands on a Patriot missile. Although one or two would suffice quite nicely to reverse engineer and be easier to smuggle. But why would they want to buy 160 tons of explosives and make the smuggling of the Patriots that much riskier? I would think that China manufactures all the explosives they could ever want at home for less than they would cost to import.
Agree...and that is one reason I'd like to see their comment regarding this "sale."
This has all the markings of some 'under the radar' weapons sale/transfer. Who is selling and who is buying is going to be the interesting part.
Of course, this story may well 'die' a silent death...lol
Merely an error on the ship’s manifest...or something. Nothing to see here, Citizen. Move along.
I would have thought one would need a top secret clearance just to be in the same room with a Patriot missile.
I have the same reaction. One would think our top of the line SAM wouldn’t be bobbing around the ocean unguarded and being traded like cigarettes in a jailhouse, regardless of how good the intentions.
The Russians and Chinese would love to get them in order to perfect their SAMs, although they are suppose to be better than the Patriot anyway in the S400/S500 the Russians are producing.
Ummm, Raytheon never sold a single Patriot missile to anyone except the U.S. Government. The Government sells them to foreign governments as it sees fit. Some Patriot systems are build and financed completely by foreign governments, Raytheon’s customer is always the U.S. government. Even during fabrication, the U.S. is entitled to any claim any partially completed assets.
South Korea has a sizeable stock of Patriot assets. After the end of the Cold War, Germany sold off a lot of its Patriot assets to Poland and Taiwan, a transaction sanctioned by the U.S. government.
BTW, Patriot missiles are made by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin depending on variant. Older missiles are all made by Raytheon.
I am not an expert on missiles, but the Patriot is just a modernised copy of the old Nike missile, and the missile is pretty useless without the system of radars and launching pads needed to fire and direct it.it.
I am sure the ChiComs would love to have a “few” to test, but 69 is not a few.
I am also confident that the Obastard would never intentionally help one of our allies.
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