Authorities in Malaysia have seized several more Israel-bound shipments at one of the country’s biggest ports, according to people familiar with the matter, an apparently new level of scrutiny in a nation where anti-Israeli sentiment runs high.
Three containers bound for Ashdod Port south of Tel Aviv were detained at Malaysia’s Tanjung Pelepas port in mid-August and to date had not been released as authorities investigate their contents, the people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified because they were not authorised to speak publicly.
The seizures follow an initial detainment of another container on August 7 that originally came from the Philippines and that was suspected by the Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency of containing weapons because it was headed to Elbit Systems, an Israeli defence technology firm, according to a statement from the agency at the time. Tracking data from Hapag-Lloyd, the container line carrying the cargo, show the shipment still at Tanjung Pelepas.
The other three seizures happened on August 19, the people said. Those containers housed electric bike parts that were being shipped from a Chinese manufacturer, Chongqing Mobimax Technology, according to manifests. Tracking data from the liner carrying those cargoes, A.P. Moller-Maersk, also show them still at the busy transshipment port almost a month later.