The Israeli military and police on Monday captured a boat on the Dead Sea which was trying to smuggle weapons from Jordan, and detained two Palestinians on board, officials said.

The boat was carrying a number of Kalashnikov assault rifles, magazines and other weapons, a statement from the army said, adding that two men, both Palestinians, were being questioned by Israeli police.

"A boat carrying a number of AK-47 assault rifles, magazines and additional weaponry was apprehended earlier today by the IDF and the Israel police," the statement said, describing it as an attempt to smuggle weapons into the Palestinian territories.

The Dead Sea is the lowest place in the world, with its eastern shores bordering Jordan, while its western shores border Israel and the West Bank.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP the boat had come from Jordan and said the two men on board were Bedouin, although he did not say whether they were of Jordanian or Palestinian origin.

"There is an ongoing police investigation involving a number of arms that were attempted to be smuggled from Jordan," he told AFP. "Two suspects have been arrested and are being questioned. The arrests were made this morning and a number of weapons were confiscated."

Israel's army radio said the vessel was a dinghy that had come from Jordan and was trying to traffic arms into the West Bank.

It was not the first time the army has stopped a boat containing weapons on the Dead Sea, although such attempts are very rare.

In December 2006, Israeli security forces arrested a Jordanian and an Israeli who used an inflatable boat to smuggle guns and drugs into Israel from Jordan.

Several months later, the Israeli press reported that the navy had started looking into the possibility of organising regular patrols on the Dead Sea in an attempt to prevent the infiltration of people and weapons from Jordan into the Palestinian territories.

The Dead Sea stretches along a 70-kilometre (43-mile) stretch of the border and because of its high salinity, tests were being conducted to examine what kind of patrol vessel could withstand erosion from the salt, the reports said.

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