Hmmm... Why would a ship be carrying 45 tons of weapons off the coast of Egypt?

I want to put this in perspective. 45 tons is an awful lot of weapons. By comparison, the Karine A, the weapons ship that was sent to the 'Palestinians' a number of years ago, which was considered huge, was carrying 50 tons.

Egyptian forces have forced a Togolese ship carrying 45 tons of weapons into one of Egypt's Red Sea ports. But there are more unknowns than known facts about this ship.

Egyptian navy forces captured a Togo flagged ship carrying heavy weapons as it entered Egyptian waters in the Red Sea late on Wednesday, three security sources told Reuters on Thursday.

The ship spent a week in international waters before entering Egyptian waters where the ship was escorted into the port of Safaga, 569 km (356 miles) southeast of Cairo, according to the sources.

The origin and facts surrounding the seizure remain unclear amid contradicting reports. Now Lebanon reported that the ship was Iranian.

The ship's cargo contained 45 ton of weapons including land mines, automatic rifles, and hand grenades, according to the Aswat Masriya website. The website also stated that Americans and Britons were among the crew members.

According to the Egyptian newspaper Al Masry Al Youm, Egypt arrested 14 crew members and a second boat with 4 people on board. Both boats are owned by a Ukranian security firm.

"The weapons and ammunition seized in the vessel are linked to the nature of their work and the tasks assigned to them to secure commercial vessels," General staff spokesman Ahmed Mohamed Ali stated on his Facebook page.

Ships often hire private security firms to defend themselves from Somali pirates.

 I suspect we will be hearing a lot more about this one....