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By Way of Deception

By Way of Deception

By Way of Deception

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308 BY WAY OF DECEPTIONhappy harbormaster exactly where the ship was and how long itwould be there. He confirmed the vessel's location, along with that<strong>of</strong> another one also being loaded with equipment destined forCyprus.Two Israeli missile boats, SAAR-4 class, appeared to be on regularpatrol one warm summer night in 1985, only this time theystopped long enough to unload six commandos in a small,electric-powered submarine with a hood on top, similar inappearance to a World War II fighter plane without the wings — ora long torpedo with a propeller on the back. It was called a wetsubmarine, and the commandos sat under the hood, dressed foraction in their wet suits and oxygen tanks.After disembarking from the patrol boats, they went quickly to aship entering the harbor, latched themselves to its hull bymagnetic plates, and piggybacked a ride into the harbor itself.The hood <strong>of</strong> the submarine provided them with a life-savingprotective shield, necessary because the Mossad knew from theirconversations with the harbormaster that once every five hours,Libyan security cruised the harbor, tossing hand grenades into thewater and creating a tremendous amount <strong>of</strong> water pressure —enough to finish <strong>of</strong>f any frogman who happened to be in the area.They had discovered this security device one time when the katsaheard explosions in the background and simply asked theharbormaster what was making the noise. It's a routine securitymeasure in most harbors where countries are at war. Syria andIsrael both do it, too.And so, they simply waited in their wet submarine until securitymade its rounds, then they quietly slipped into the water, carryingtheir leech mines with them. After attaching them to the twoloaded PLO ships, they returned to their submarine. The wholething took only about two and a half hours. Since they also knewwhich ships were leaving the harbor that night, they headed for atanker near the harbor entrance, but decided not to clamp on to itbecause it would be too difficult to unhook their tiny vessel oncethe tanker was under full steam.

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