Never Enough News Double-Takes Department

From today's New York Times:

Hezbollah, he said, could simply unload the weapons dockside in Beirut, Lebanon, without the elaborate subterfuge of the submersible containers, which were joined to tanks of oxygen and ballast to keep them floating a few feet beneath the surface.

In a sign of the smugglers' sophistication, 80 such 8-foot-long containers were found, the Israelis said, each already packed with its deadly cargo. Large objects, like mortar launchers, had been neatly cut up to fit; once ashore, the parts would be welded back together, Israeli officials said.

A few thoughts on this matter:

1) How were they getting the ballasts back? They sound expensive to me, maybe as much as the arms shipment itself.

2) WELD together a MORTAR LAUNCHER?!? What the Hel? They may as well be making Saturday Night Specials over there. You rip off some pipe from the Israeli settlers and... oh, but that would be telling. Either way, you're left with a dangerous weapon that could misfire on you. True, mortars don't work exactly like bullets, but a weakened weapon is always dangerous.

Needless to say, something funny is going on.