U.S., coalition forces target oil smuggling in Persian Gulf

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. and coalition naval forces in the Persian Gulf have boarded 60 ships in the last week suspected of smuggling oil from Iraq, diverting 21 of those vessels to other ports for further inspections.

Military officials said the vessels diverted were all small dhows, and carrying a total of 3,200 metric tons of petroleum products.

The dhow is a traditional wooden vessel primarily used by Arabs and commonly found along the Indian Ocean region. It is powered by sail or motor.

A U.S. official thinks the high number of boats intercepted with petroleum cargo on board strongly indicates smugglers have found alternatives to larger ships that are being caught by the international maritime intercept operation.

To avoid that, oil cargos are now apparently being loaded onto a greater number of smaller ships, especially the wooden dhows, in hopes they will not be observed by U.S. and coalition warships patrolling the Persian Gulf waters looking for ships attempting to violate the U.N. embargo.