On 9 November, the European Union’s Operation EUNAVFOR MED IRINI announced that on 11 October it had conducted an inspection of the merchant vessel MV MEERDIJK off the coast of Libya. The ship was found to be transporting vehicles modified for military use suspected to be in breach of the UN arms embargo. According to IRINI, MV MEERDIJK was detected and intercepted by one of the vessels in its fleet operating in the central Mediterranean Sea. Upon Operation IRINI’s request, the ship’s flag state, the Netherlands, gave consent for the inspection and a boarding team was sent on board to verify the nature of those vehicles. The boarding team discovered dozens of military vehicles shipped in possible violation of the UN arms embargo on Libya. The vehicles were seized, and the ship was diverted to a European port for further inspection. Following the inspection by the UN Panel of Experts, the vehicles were disembarked and stored ashore.
