Gaddafi regime concealed weapons in Libyan overseas embassies
Concealed under the privilege of diplomatic immunity, the Gaddafi regime was running a covert operation to conceal weapons in overseas Libyan embassies.
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Libyan People’s Bureau (Embassy) in London, Knightsbridge.
According to
EuroNews the Gaddafi regime successfully shipped weapons to many countries in Asia, Europe and Africa. Weapons were discovered when representatives of Libya's interim government, the National Transitional Council (NTC) began to take over the Libyan embassies abroad.
The NTC's deputy foreign minister, Mohammed Abdul Aziz, revealed that weapons have been discovered in the Libyan embassies in Greece, Morocco and Egypt.
The
Tripoli Post reported that in Athens the weapons cache included "30 handguns, two sub-machine guns, 15 kg of plastic explosives, detonators, two hand grenades, silencers and wiretapping equipment." In Rabat the haul included "booby-trapped vehicles and rocket-propelled grenades."
When Aziz was asked if he thought the weapons, which were shipped in diplomatic bags, were part of a covert operation planned by the Gaddafi regime he replied "I have no single doubt in my mind. No single doubt."
Those protected by diplomatic immunity are free from prosecution, enjoying "immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving State." (
FP)
The rules of diplomatic immunity are laid out in the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and apply to "members of the diplomatic staff, and of the administrative and technical staff and of the service staff of the mission." The only deterrent against abuses committed under diplomatic immunity is expulsion.
Aziz said that the weapons discovered thus far are just the tip of the iceberg. He said arrangements are being made to return the weapons, which include "chemical stuff," to Libya, or to surrender them to the host country.
