In a jury trial at the United States Federal Courthouse in Richmond (Virginia), a Pakistani captain of a dhow has been found guilty of a series of charges related to the supply of advanced conventional weaponry to Houthi rebels in Yemen, and of providing material support to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to a report published by The Maritime Executive.
The Pakistani captain, whose name is Muhammad Pahlawan was also found guilty of threatening his own crew in an attempt to confuse the naval boarding party that intercepted his dhow.
The interception was carried out in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Somalia on January 11, 2024, and was executed by US Navy and Coast Guard personnel from the USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB-3).
Two SEALS who were part of the boarding party lost their lives when the captain of the dhow attempted to carry out evasive manoeuvres.
Among the weapons and equipment found on the dhow were critical components for medium-range ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles, including a warhead and propulsion, engine and guidance components. The equipment seized was of types used by the Houthis against a range of targets, including merchant shipping.
The case is unusual: crews of dhows intercepted with weapons aboard by coalition forces are normally turned over to local authorities, thereby avoiding the burden and costs of imprisoning crews who are often unwitting accessories. In this instance, along with the captain, another member of the crew was charged with misleading FBI investigators. All the remaining Pakistani crew members were detained under federal material witness laws, being assessed as flight risks. Detention of the whole crew, as well as seizure of arms aboard the dhow, enabled FBI investigators to gain a thorough understanding of the dhow’s modus operandii and the IRGC’s system of arms smuggling.
Between August 2023 until he was intercepted on January 11, 2024, Pahlawan captained his dhow on multiple smuggling trips, in which he loaded up at IRGC-controlled facilities in Iran, sailed across the Arabian Sea to points off the coast of Somalia, and then cross-decked cargos of weapons to smaller boats which had come out from and then returned to fishing ports on the Houthi-controlled coastline of Yemen. Each voyage was coordinated by two Iranian brothers, Shahab and Yunis Mir’kazei, both of whom were IRGC officers. The IRGC officers provided the coordinates for the points where trans-shipments were to take place, with mobile phone devices and contacts. Pahlawan was paid in cash for each journey.
The IRGC method of using transshipment to smaller boats is well-described in successive annual UN Security Council Panel of Experts on Yemen reports. Cross-decking to smaller boats helps both to reduce the risk of detection on the most vulnerable leg of the arms shipment route, and also the consequent loss of cargo should an interception occur.
Pahlawan will be sentenced in September, and he could face up to 20 years in jail.