The National Resistance announces the arrest of 12 Iranians and Pakistanis on board a boat carrying fertilizers for the Houthi militias

The National Resistance Forces, affiliated with Presidential Leadership Council member Tariq Saleh, announced on Wednesday the arrest of 9 Iranians and 3 Pakistanis who were on board a sailboat carrying a shipment of free fertilizers coming from Iran and heading to the ports of Hodeidah, which are under the control of the Houthi militia in western Yemen .

The National Resistance's military media said that the naval forces received information from the resistance's General Intelligence Division about a suspicious boat sailing in the international shipping lane off the Red Sea on its way to Hodeidah.

He added that a naval patrol intercepted the ship, called "Zaid", and found 9 Iranians and 3 Pakistanis on board, who admitted that they were on their way to the port of Al-Salif in Hodeidah, coming from the Iranian port of Chabahar.

The statement listed the names of the individuals according to their passports and marine licenses, namely: “Abdulghani Abdullah Rasani, Abdullah Bar Muhammad, Aslam Kashuk Aron, Mohsen Shirk Aron, Murtaza Muhammad Ain, Anis Osman Arba Tzada, Abdullah Muhammad Raisi, Amin Ismail Nizar Cohen” from Iran, in addition to Abdullah Saleh Dada, Oziz Abdul Aziz Saleh Dada, and Farhan Qadir Baksh from Pakistan.

In their confessions, documented with audio and video, the captain of the dhow, Abdul Ghani Rasani, admitted that he had set off from the port of Chabahar in Iran, along with another dhow called “Amran,” and that the owner of the shipment in the two dhows was an Iranian called “Sheikhi,” sent to the same destination in Yemen, and that the financial amount for transporting the shipment was tempting.

He also admitted that the owner of the shipment had given him forged manifests suggesting that the shipment had departed from the port of Karachi in Pakistan and not from Chabahar in Iran, and that he had to present these documents if any patrol intercepted them, while the real documents were hidden in a place where no one could reach them.

He added that the second dhow, "Omran", sank off Oman due to bad weather conditions, and its crew was rescued and sent with another dhow to Pakistan, noting that his dhow was also on the verge of sinking, which prompted him to head to Djibouti to repair the damage.

He stated that there was communication with the owner of the shipment, "Sheikhi", and he tried to unload the shipment there, but he insisted on continuing to sail to the port of Al-Salif in Hodeidah, and he also stipulated that he not pass through the port of Mokha under any circumstances.

According to the captain, he did not know that the shipment belonged to the Houthi militia, noting that the owner of the shipment, “Sheikhi,” had made them believe that it belonged to a company in Yemen that had no connection to the Houthis, which was confirmed by the rest of the crew.

He explained that he and those with him were merely sailors from the Sunni-majority Karachi region and had no connection to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which had exploited them and involved them in the smuggling operation.

The crew of the Sanbuk also admitted that the captain, Abdul Ghani Rasani, had informed them and stressed to them that if a patrol intercepted them, they should say that the shipment had departed from the port of Karachi, Pakistan, and not from Chabahar, Iran.

They pointed out that an American patrol had intercepted them in the Arabian Sea, inspected the shipment, examined the "forged" papers, and after three hours allowed them to continue sailing.

They also confirmed that they were victims, and that if they had known that the shipment belonged to the Houthis, they would not have accepted to transport it, no matter how tempting the amount was. They also confirmed that since the moment they were detained, they have been treated well, and have not been subjected to any harm or forced to speak.