By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A Turkish customs official says a suspicious shipment bound for Venezuela from Iran contains lab equipment capable of producing explosives and is being held at a Mediterranean port.
Suleyman Tosun, a senior customs official in Mersin, says military experts were asked to examine the material seized last month and decide whether to let the shipment go to Venezuela.
Tosun said Tuesday authorities detected the equipment during a search of 22 containers labeled as "tractor parts." They were brought to Mersin by trucks from neighboring Iran.
An Iranian embassy official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, downplayed the seizure, saying the shipment contained "nothing important."