Armed Robbery Onboard 4 Ships off Iraqi Coast

The U.S. Navy reported that armed men robbed four commercial ships anchored in Iraq’s main port Umm Qasr in Basra.

Two men armed with AK-47’s boarded the American cargo ship SAGAMORE at 4 a.m. on Aug. 8, taking computers, cellphones, and money from crew members before fleeing the vessel.

The same night three other ships, the Antigua-flagged ARMENIA, the North Korean CRYSTAL WAVE, and the Syrian SANA STAR were robbed under similar circumstances over the course of about two hours starting around 2 a.m.

The Iraqi Navy took two Iraqi men into custody after a boat was found with some of the stolen goods onboard.