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Iranian ship

with explosives

intercepted: Peres

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Shimon Peres said on Sunday that an Iranian ship loaded with explosives to be used against Jewish and Israeli targets had been intercepted in Antwerp by Belgian tax authorities.

"On March 14, the Belgium tax authority uncovered during an inspection of cargo that arrived to Antwerp on an Iranian ship three wooden crates that carried a parcel containing large and dangerous amounts of ammunition," the Itim news agency quoted Peres as telling a meeting of the Labour party.

Peres said the ship, belonging to Iran's Pacific Lines, left Iran on February 29 and arrived in Antwerp on March 11.

"It is possible that this incident is part of a recent Iranian effort to hurt interests and targets of Israelis and Jews in the country (Israel) and abroad."

He said the cargo was the work of professionals and not amateurs.

Peres has accused Iran on several occasions of backing Islamic militant attacks against Israel, calling it "a government of murder and terror".

Earlier on Sunday Israel said it had arrested a Palestinian man, recruited by the Islamic Jihad in Turkey, who received military training in Iran.

The Shin Bet secret police arrested a student from the Gaza Strip "who underwent military training in Iran so as to carry out terror attacks against Israeli targets," an Israel army spokesman said.-Reuter