An Israeli freighter suspected of carrying an undeclared cargo of small arms, outran two Canadian Coast Guard cutters last Friday. But Israel’s Ambassador, Gershon Avner, denied emphatically that any such cargo existed or that Israel was importing arms from Canada.
The vessel in question was the 5,000 deadweight ton cargo motorship Nahariya of the Zim lines which sailed from Pictou, Nova Scotia after loading a cargo of lumber and was bound for Spain. An “anonymous tip” that the ship was carrying arms to the Middle East without an export license led to the chase, but the cutters were unable to catch the Nahariya before she entered international waters. The episode was described in the Canadian parliament by Paul Martin, Minister of External Affairs, in reply to questions by H. Russell MacEwan, member from Pictou. Ambassador Avner said later that the “tip” was the result “of an argument between Nahariya’s Master and a stevedore.”
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