Oman seizes more than 30,000 pistols in port transit; report says guns were Yemen bound

MUSCAT, Oman — Oman police say they have seized more than 30,000 pistols aboard a tanker, which a newspaper reports was bound for neighboring Yemen.

The seizure comes two years after an Abu Dhabi court sentenced six people for a foiled plot to smuggle 16,000 pistols from Turkey to Shiite rebels in northern Yemen.

The official Oman News Agency quoted a police colonel as saying nine Omanis were arrested in connection with the alleged shipment of 30,393 pistols discovered in Sohar, a port about 200 kilometers (120 miles) northwest of the capital Muscat. It gave no other details.

But the Dubai-based newspaper Gulf News cited anonymous sources Thursday as saying the vessel came from Turkey and was bound for Yemen, where Shiite rebels have waged an insurgency for years.