Page 129 - Historical Summaries (Persian Gulf) 1907-1953

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Printed for the use of the Foreign Office. March 1903.

CONFIDENTIAL.
(9192.)

Supplementary Memorandum respecting
British Interests in the Persian
Gulf.

[See Confidential Paper No. 9161.]

Taulk ok Contknts.
IVe
I. The Anns Tronic 1
II. Qunrontiiio .. .. .. .. 13
III. Question of British Consul nr Representation in El
llasa and Kulif 27
IV. Moltaiumcruh .. 29

I.—The Arms Traffic.

(Communicated by the India Office.)
THE position in regard to the arms traffic on
the various sections of the Persian Gulf littoral
is briefly as follows -
1. Muscat.—Muscat has for many years been
an emporium for the arms traffic, and the trade lias
now attained to such dimensions that in 1906-7
the total value of the imports of arms and
ammunition amounted to 112,338/. The situation
is governed by the fact that the Sultan of Muscat
has Commercial Treaties with France, Holland,
and the United States, under the terms of which
it would bo impossible for him to impose special
restrictions on tho importation of arms and
ammunition into his dominions without tho
consent of the Powers in question.
Tho result is that arms flow freely into
Muscat, and arc thence distributed throughout
Persia, Arabia, and Afghanistan. From the
last-named country a considerable proportion of
the arms find their way to the tribesmen of the
[363] B