Qatar affirmed that it has been following media reports about the seized arsenal of weapons in the friendly Italian Republic very closely and with concern.
The weapons were found with what has been described in the media as an “extreme right party”. The reports have also mentioned that a French Matra air-air missile that was owned at one point by the Qatari Armed Forces was amongst the captured weapons.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement yesterday that the authorities in Qatar have immediately started an investigation alongside the respective Italian authorities and the authorities of another friendly nation, that requested not to be named at this time, to which the Matra missile was sold 25 years ago.
The early stages of the investigation and the tracked serial numbers illustrate the facts that the captured Matra Super 530 missile was sold by Qatar in the year 1994 in a deal that included 40 Matra Super 530 missiles to a friendly nation that wishes not to be named at this point of the investigation, the statement said.
The State of Qatar is working very closely now with the pertinent parties in Italy and the country to which the missile was sold to unveil the facts, and it is very concerned as to how a missile sold 25 years ago ended up in the hands of a third non-state party, the Ministry stressed in the statement.
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