French Seize SAM Missiles, Other Arms Destined for IRA

French officials said Tuesday that they seized more than 150 tons of arms and explosives destined for the Irish Republican Army, including thousands of machine guns and 20 Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles.

Customs officials said the arms confiscated Friday from the Panamanian-registered Eksund II cargo ship apparently were all Soviet made, including 20 shoulder-fired SAM-7 missiles, about 10 tons of mortar shells, several thousand heavy machine guns and ammunition, automatic pistols and rocket-propelled grenades.

The government prosecutor in Brest told a press conference Tuesday night that the arms “were all destined” for the IRA--the outlawed Irish Republican Army fighting British rule in Northern Ireland.

In London, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher thanked French authorities for the seizure that “without a doubt permitted the saving of a large number of lives in Northern Ireland and elsewhere.”