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Saudi-led coalition seizes ship carrying banned items aboard

Xinhua, February 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

A Saudi-led coalition fighting the the Houthi rebels in Yemen said Tuesday that a UN ship that was coming from Djibouti and seized in the Yemeni port of Al Hudaydah was carrying banned items on board, Al Arabiya News reported.

The forces diverted the route of the ship that belonged to the UN Food and Medicine Program to the port of the Saudi border city of Jazan for inspection, the coalition's spokesman Brigadier Ahmed Al Asiri said.

The military officer did not reveal the type of the banned items, accusing staff of the program of being involved in a smuggling operation under the guise of humanitarian aid delivered by the UN to the Yemenis.

The UN will be contacted to avoid the exploitation of the humanitarian aid transferring efforts, he said.

The coalition has been supervising the transfer of UN reliefs to the Yemeni people over claims that Iran is supplying weapons and ammunitions to Houthis in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia has been leading a war against Houthis in Yemen since almost a year ago. Endit