Seized Portland-Bound Hellfire Missiles Were Headed for Portland, Maine

It turns out that the two Hellfire missiles seized in Serbia over the weekend were headed to Portland, Maine not Oregon.

That's according to a State Department Official who tells Patch that from Maine they would be returned to the Virginia-based company that lent them to the Lebanese Army for training purposes.

"In advance of the Lebanese Army receiving Hellfire missiles as part of an approved sale, they were provided with these two training missiles as part of the preparation press," said the official who spoke on the condition that his name not be used because of ongoing diplomatic negotiations.

The official told Patch that the Lebanese Army was using the "missiles" to make sure the real ones could be attached to Cessna planes when the missiles arrive.

"These are inert," the official said. "No fuel, no explosives. They are strictly for training."

The official said that they were provided to Lebanon by a third-party contractor, Orbital ATK of Virginia.

"The parts arrived in Belgrade, as they were supposed to," the official said. "There, customs inspectors, out of an abundance of caution as our people would have done, pulled them aside to figure out what was going on."

As it turns out, they were never headed to Portland, Oregon. That was an assumption made by someone in Serbia.

"Their port of entry is Portland, Maine," the official said.

Yesterday, Patch reported that last summer, the Pentagon announced the "possible" sale of 1,000 of the missiles to Lebanon for an estimated cost of $114 million.

The press release said the sale did not require approval beyond the of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which certified the sale.

"There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of the proposed sale," the release stated.

"This proposed sale will enhance the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a strategic partner."

The report that the missiles had been seized and contained live explosives - something now denied by the Lebanese Army - had put local law enforcement on alert.

Both Portland Police and the Portland office the FBI told Patch that they were aware of the report and were monitoring.

The Associated Press, quoting Serbian media, says that authorities have seized two American-made AGM-114 II Hellfire missiles that were headed to Portland.

The report says the missiles had explosive warheads.

They were reportedly found by a bomb-sniffing dog at Belgrade Airport aboard an Air Serbia flight.

The flight had originated in Beirut, Lebanon.

Simpson told Patch that Portland Police have not taken any additional steps in response to the report.

"We have taken additional measures because of the World Track and Field Championships," Simpson said. "But nothing beyond that."

The World Indoor Track and Field Championships are scheduled to begin Thursday in Portland. Athletes have started to arrive in town.

The Hellfire can be fired from air, sea, and ground. The ones that were supposedly found are a version of the Hellfire often fired from unmanned aerial vehicles also known as drones.

They have a range of about five miles.

The AP says Serbian television station N1 reports that Air Serbia is helping with the investigation saying Air Serbia said:

"Security and safety are the main priorities for Air Serbia."

If it turns out that the missiles were headed for Portland, it would not be the first time that the city was linked to a terror plot.

IN 2010, Mohamed Osman Mohamud was arrested after attempting to set off what he thought was a car bomb at the city's annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in Pioneer Courthouse Square.

He was convicted in 2013. The following year he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

This story will be updated.