Authorities in Serbia intercepted guided missiles with explosive warheads on a flight to the U.S. and are now investigating the cargo in which the American-made weapons were found.
Television network N1 said authorities were alerted to the AGM-114 Hellfire missiles by bomb-sniffing dogs after the Air Serbia flight, which originated in Beirut, landed in Belgrade, according to
The Associated Press. Officials said the cargo was bound for Portland, Oregon.
The Portland division of the FBI told the
Huffington Post that it did not have additional information on the report but was aware of it. Serbia media was quoted by the Post as saying that the FBI was helping with the investigation of the missiles.
Military analyst Aleksander Radić told N1, according to the Huffington Post, that it was "unheard of" for such weapons to be transported through Nikola Tesla airport by a passenger plane.
The AGM-14 Hellfire are air-to-ground missiles often used as anti-armor weapons, according to the website
Army-Technology.com.
"The Hellfire II air-to-ground missile system provides heavy anti-armor capability for attack helicopters. It is a 100-pound class air-to-ground precision weapon delivering multi-target capability and precision strike lethality. The Hellfire II missile is in service with the armed forces of the U.S. and 16 other nations," said the website.
In June 2015, the U.S. State Department announced the possible sale of AGM-114 Hellfire II missiles to Lebanon for a cost of $146 million, according to a statement from the defense department's
Security Cooperation Agency.
Lebanon at the time requested the 1,000 missiles, along with other military material, U.S. government and contractor logistics and technical support services, according to the statement.
Robert Caruso, a former state department and Pentagon staffer, posted a Twitter message Sunday, suggesting that the weapons were probably stolen.
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