Syrian ship caught smuggling explosives into Lebanon

Daily Star:

A Syrian ship has been held in detention since Tuesday in Sidon's harbor after it was suspected of smuggling explosive materials. The Syrian ship, Lady Azza, which docked in Sidon two days ago, was supposed to transport scrap metal from Sidon to an unknown destination in Syria.

However, employees at Sidon' s harbor said boxes containing engines and thermal mercury pressure meters were being smuggled outside of the ship using one of the trucks carrying scrap into Lady Azza.

The Syrian ship has not entered Lebanese territories to discharge any merchandise, but rather to load scrap.

Military experts who visited the ship said engines and pressure meters which were being unloaded were not used in any military operations but were rather for industrial use.

Two customs officers involved in the smuggling, in addition to the owners of the truck, which carried smuggled merchandise were arrested pending investigations.

Smuggled merchandise was being transported to a farm near Sidon, and military intelligence and the Internal Security Forces were able to track down the truck and identify both the driver and the owner.

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This story seems somewhat confused. Where they smuggling explosives are engines and pressure meters? Whatever they were doing, it appears the Syrians as usual were up to something that was illegal. If the contraband was just engines and pressure meters were they just trying to avoid taxes?