An Italian newspaper reported Friday that Mossad and Italian intelligence personnel who gathered on a boat that capsized on Lake Maggiore earlier this week were working on an operation to block a delivery of weapons to Iran.
The agents, disguised as tourists, boarded the vessel in Slovenia and sailed to an island in Lake Maggiore in northern Italy. However, an unexpected, violent storm overturned the boat, killing four.
Operation to Block Advanced Weapons Transfer to Iran
According to the report by La Repubblica, the gathered agents were working together on an operation to prevent Iran from obtaining advanced weapons.
In exchange, Russian oligarchs who were in the area were allegedly set to transfer Iranian-produced kamikaze drones to Moscow.
The identity of retired Mossad agent Erez Shimoni and details about the operation he was leading were exposed after the boat sank with 13 Israeli Mossad agents and eight Italian secret service agents, plus the boat’s skipper, Carlo Carminati, and a Russian woman alleged to be his wife.
Efforts to Preserve Agents’ Anonymity
Carminati is suspected of negligent homicide in connection with the incident, because the vessel was only licensed to carry 15 passengers.
Two Italian intelligence agents and the skipper’s alleged wife were killed in addition to Shimoni, who was buried Wednesday with full honors in a restricted funeral held in Ashkelon. Agents who attended the funeral took care to hide their faces behind surgical masks to preserve their anonymity.
The Israeli intelligence agents who survived the incident were immediately flown back to Israel. The Italian secret service agents who were also aboard the vessel and survived were taken to a specialized facility to recover to protect their identities.
