Monday, March 14, 2016
The Lebanese army says two missiles found on an Air Serbia flight from Beirut to Belgrade were used for training and did not contain any explosives. Monday's announcement came after Serbia's authorities began investigating reports that a cargo package bound for the United States containing two missiles with explosive warheads was found on the flight. The army says the missiles were being sent to the American company that produced them. It says the return was in accordance "with administrative and legal measures after the training ended". On Sunday, Serbia's "N1" television network said the package with two guided armor-piercing missiles was discovered Saturday by a sniffer dog after the Air Serbia flight landed at Belgrade Airport. Serbian media said documents listed the final destination for the AGM-114 Hellfire missiles as Portland, Oregon.
This turned out as a huge embarrassment for Serbia, Serbian police, Serbian journalists, Air Serbia, and well, anyone having anything to do with Serbia :)
ReplyDeleteSeems that nothing portrayed in Serbian media was actually true:
"Beth Anne Steele with the Portland office of the FBI said on Monday the missiles were not destined for Portland.
In a statement, a US State Department spokesperson said: “We are aware of reports that two inert test assets are being held by Serbian authorities. The Lebanese Armed Forces have confirmed that these inert training rounds were for training purposes and do not contain any types of explosives. The Lebanese Armed Forces were returning the inert training models to the manufacturer in the United States after completing their training, in accordance with administrative and legal procedures agreed upon with the company. We can confirm that these inert training rounds were shipped by a private U.S. company Orbital ATK under the Foreign Military Sales program to integrate the Hellfire Missile System into aircraft operated by the Lebanese Armed Forces.”"
Source: http://koin.com/2016/03/14/lebanon-missiles-on-serbian-flight-were-for-training/
Isn't N1 TV network that broke the news actually owned by CNN or something?
DeleteIn United States it was big news.
ReplyDeleteVery bad publicity for the airline as it is launching direct flights there.