Four
stowaways from Nigeria have been arrested in the United Kingdom after
special forces stormed a cargo ship off the country’s coast. The
stowaways, who are suspected migrants had reportedly threatened staff
on-board. Special Boat Service (SBS) operatives from Sabre Squadron
fast-roped from helicopters on to the ship, which had been sailing in
the Thames Estuary, Sky News reported. The operation lasted around 25
minutes and no one on-board was injured. Essex Police said the vessel
was taken to the Port of Tilbury and four men have been arrested under
the Immigration Act. The ship arrived at the Port of Tilbury in the
early hours of Saturday at just after 4.20am. Officers boarded the
236-metre long cargo ship, called the Grande Tema, shortly after 11pm on
Friday. Its operator, Grimaldi Lines, had earlier reported that four
stowaways armed with iron tubes had called for the crew to navigate
closer to the coast. The company’s spokesman Paul Kyprianou told Sky
News:“The vessel was coming from Nigeria. They managed to escape from
the cabin and started threatening the crew, requesting to have the
vessel navigate very close to the coast. We understand they wanted to
jump and reach the British coast.” He added that the crew locked
themselves in the bridge of the vessel after the migrants had picked up
potentially harmful objects. “They managed to get whatever they could
find on the vessel pieces of iron, tubes and things like that and this
is what they used in order to threaten,” Kyprianou said. The vessel had
been travelling eastwards through the English Channel when the migrants
were discovered on Friday morning.UK Police arrest 4 Nigerian stowaways aboard a cargo ship
Four
stowaways from Nigeria have been arrested in the United Kingdom after
special forces stormed a cargo ship off the country’s coast. The
stowaways, who are suspected migrants had reportedly threatened staff
on-board. Special Boat Service (SBS) operatives from Sabre Squadron
fast-roped from helicopters on to the ship, which had been sailing in
the Thames Estuary, Sky News reported. The operation lasted around 25
minutes and no one on-board was injured. Essex Police said the vessel
was taken to the Port of Tilbury and four men have been arrested under
the Immigration Act. The ship arrived at the Port of Tilbury in the
early hours of Saturday at just after 4.20am. Officers boarded the
236-metre long cargo ship, called the Grande Tema, shortly after 11pm on
Friday. Its operator, Grimaldi Lines, had earlier reported that four
stowaways armed with iron tubes had called for the crew to navigate
closer to the coast. The company’s spokesman Paul Kyprianou told Sky
News:“The vessel was coming from Nigeria. They managed to escape from
the cabin and started threatening the crew, requesting to have the
vessel navigate very close to the coast. We understand they wanted to
jump and reach the British coast.” He added that the crew locked
themselves in the bridge of the vessel after the migrants had picked up
potentially harmful objects. “They managed to get whatever they could
find on the vessel pieces of iron, tubes and things like that and this
is what they used in order to threaten,” Kyprianou said. The vessel had
been travelling eastwards through the English Channel when the migrants
were discovered on Friday morning.
