The European Union (EU) has donated more than 100 armored vehicles to Ghana that were originally seized from a ship off the coast of Libya.

It said that this is part of efforts to shore up the west African country’s security.

The EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, formally handed over the 105 vehicles to Ghana’s armed forces during a visit on Saturday.

The armored vehicles were seized from a Libya-bound ship last year by an EU maritime task force set up to inspects vessels suspected of breaching the UN arms embargo on Libya.

The EU has not disclosed the origin of the shipment or the previous owners of the cargo.

A European source explained that this is the first time that this mechanism has been used, pointing to an agreement between member states that this mechanism is better than the destruction of confiscated military shipments.

Last week, Dutch television RTL revealed that the country's public prosecutor had opened a criminal investigation into the involvement of a Dutch shipping company in violating the arms embargo on Libya. Several lawmakers called for the armored vehicles to be donated to Ukraine.