Cargo ship search 'will take weeks'

12 April 2012

Anti-terrorist officers will continue their search today of a cargo ship seized after a tip-off it may be carrying terrorist materials.

The ship is likely to remain off the Isle of Wight for the "foreseeable future", according to the Metropolitan Police. It was likely to be several weeks before the examination of the MV Nisha was complete, police said.

The 450ft vessel carrying 26,000 tonnes of raw sugar was intercepted in the Channel on Friday and is now moored about half a mile off Sandown Bay on the Isle of Wight. Searchers say they have found no hazardous or dangerous substances on board. Police stress the ship poses no danger to the public but the search will ensure there is no risk. The crew were on board and being co-operative, police said.

The ship is operated by the Great Eastern Shipping Company based in Bombay.

It had recently stopped in the East African country of Djibouti, a neighbour of Somalia, which has been linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terror network.

It had sailed from Mauritius and was carrying a cargo of sugar to the Tate & Lyle refinery on the Thames at Silvertown in east London.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT