There is much more color that has been added to the tragic 11 January boarding, search, and seizure of the stateless dhow of the Somali coast, reportedly packed with Iranian rocket and missile components headed for the Houthi. The boarding resulted in the deaths at sea of two SEALs, Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers, 37, and Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Nathan Gage Ingram, 27.
Chambers and Ingram were declared lost at sea on 22 January after being missing for 11 days
The information comes from an odd source, the DOJ, which indicted four foreign nationals this week who were members of the crew of the dhow– Muhammad Pahlawan, Mohammad Mazhar, Ghufran Ullah, and Izhar Muhammad– who made their initial appearance via teleconference before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Richmond, Virginia. Ten other crewmembers are being held as material witnesses but are not charged.
The 31-page complaint makes some interesting reading.
The boarding was accomplished by members of a West Coast-based Navy SEAL team and USCG MSST elements operating from the 100,000-ton sea base, USS Lewis B. Puller, supported by helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles. Once the VBSS team was aboard (sadly, after losing Chambers and Ingram in the process) they confirmed it was a stateless vessel and proceeded with the search. Although the crew at first said that they had been fishing for the past six days, there were no fish aboard and no fishing equipment in use. The crew said they were unaware of any cargo on the dhow.
What the VBSS team turned up were a series of warhead, and propulsion and guidance components for MRBMs and anti-ship cruise missiles, all “packaged without markings, labels, or identification in compartments near the front of the dhow.”
“The military’s belief that the weapons are Iranian is based in part on labels on various components, the recovery of similar exploded or destroyed missiles and destructive devices from other Houthi attacks in the region around the time of the seizure, and comparison of seized weapons to known information about Iranian manufactured missiles and rockets.”
The rocket and missile parts were found hidden in culvert piping and net float buoys and the 14-member crew transferred to the Puller, which then became a floating brig. The dhow was sunk by the Navy afterward as it was deemed “no longer safe or seaworthy.”
Several of the crew had Pakistani identification cards and in interviews, some said the dhow came from Pakistan and they didn’t know what the cargo was, while others said it came directly from Iran. One, Pahlawan, who told the rest of the crew to only refer to him as a refrigeration mechanic, was in charge. Pahlawan said he had been in Iran for two years and that he began working on the dhow 10-15 days before it left Konarak, Iran, where it had been inspected by the Iranian Navy an hour before it departed. Once they left Konarak, they took on diesel at night at Chah Bahar, a known base of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy.
Pahlawan said he was instructed by the owner and captain of the vessel– neither of which embarked– on what heading to take toward the Somali coast and was given a sat phone to communicate with an individual through a series of calls that the FBI traced back to an individual known to be affiliated with the IRGC.
Of note, Pahlawan also had a personal cell phone and was active on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok. You gotta stay on top of things, after all.
As noted by the DOJ:
Pahlawan faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted of unlawfully transporting a warhead, and all four defendants face a maximum penalty of five years in prison if convicted of the false statements offense. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.