Ankara again blocks EU inspection of cargo ship off Libya coast

Ankara has once again prevented the European Union’s naval mission enforcing the Libya arms embargo from checking a suspect freighter off the war-torn country’s coast, Germany’s Der Spiegel reports.

According to the report, German frigate Hamburg working under Operation Irini tried to check a Turkish cargo vessel suspected of smuggling weapons, about 200 kilometers off the Libyan coast on Sunday.

The operation was halted following a protest by the government in Ankara, the report says, adding that the German soldiers disembarked the Rosaline A vessel on Monday.

A Turkish warship prevented an EU embargo check on a cargo vessel sailing near Libya in June.