Security forces seize truckloads of weapons at a Sana’a hotel

A stash of weapons collected from Yemeni citizens

Yemeni security forces seized large quantities of weapons and explosives from two large trucks in Sana’a last Saturday, said an official source from the Ministry of the Interior who asked that his name be withheld. The weapons may have been heading to the war in Sa’ada, said the source. According to the source, security men seized the weapons while a group of people was loading two large trucks with light and medium-size weapons in the yard of a hotel in the Beit Moayyad area in the al-Sab’een District. 

Security forces arrested six people, who are now under investigation. Senior weapons merchants were involved in this process, the source said. The weapons included rocket-propelled grenades, bazookas, and other different kinds of weapons. The initial investigations of the suspects indicated that the weapons, which were in wooden boxes, were on their way to Sa’ada, the source said.  In other weapons-gathering news, the Ministry of Interior informed the journalists and representatives of the local, Arab and international media about the three stores of weapons that have been collected and bought from the citizens of the neighborhood where the hotel is, as part of the weapons collection plan being carried out by authorities in Yemen.

The ministry informed the journalists about three warehouses of weapons in the suburbs of the Sana’a containing tens of thousands of weapons of various kinds. The first weapons warehouse contained tank missiles and machine guns, while the second warehouse had different kinds of artillery shells, explosives and mines. The officials at the warehouses refused to reveal any details to reporters on the prices of these weapons that have been collected, just saying that their task is confined to the storage of such weapons.

The Minister of Interior Rashad al-Alimi said that the cost of these weapons exceeds tens of billions, and that these weapons were collected in an effort to implement the decision to collect the country’s weapons that was approved by the government last April. The Yemeni government made a decision last month to collect and confiscate the medium-sized and heavy weapons that are in the possession of citizens and to close all shops selling such weapons. 

In other news, the al-Motamar.net Website mentioned that the security forces in Sa’ada seized last Monday two persons who were trying to smuggle a large number of gas canisters to locations where the al-Houthi rebels are situated. A local source said that 60 gas canisters were seized from the possession of the two people who were arrested in the al-Talh area before they could smuggle them to any rebels for the use in combat operations.  The source also said that a large number of rebels had surrendered to the armed forces and security during the last two days. 

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