A team of Garda officers, including armed members of the Special Detective Unit, and customs officials are expected to continue a search this morning of a Mongolian-registered cargo ship detained off Dún Laoghaire harbour.
The MV Unique has been tracked closely in an international operation over the past week. The vessel, which has a crew of up to nine people, was ordered out of French waters at the weekend after it was suspected of having illegal immigrants on board.
A team of 12 gardaí, including members of the Garda drugs unit, customs and national immigration officers were involved in the initial search last night of the Unique one mile offshore. The naval vessel LE Aoife was also at the scene and it was believed that the search party, which had gone out to the ship in two sea-rider vessels, were planning to stay overnight.
The Unique had been monitored by the Irish authorities from early yesterday morning and about 7.15 p.m. the boarding operation began.Detectives secured the ship by 8.45 last night, identifying the captain and passengers on board and began a search for arms, drugs and illegal immigrants.
The Unique was first spotted on Saturday near the confluence of the English Channel and the North Sea, but according to the ship's papers it was bound for an unknown destination. It appeared to have no cargo. During a storm earlier this week, the ship took shelter off the south coast of England, but did not attempt to enter port. It had earlier anchored outside Cherbourg, but again did not ask for permission to enter there.
On Tuesday, intelligence reports recorded the Unique was approached by smaller craft, though it was not clear whether they were on or off-loading. The suspicion among immigration services in Britain was that the Unique may have been waiting to pick up illegal immigrants probably heading to Britain.
The Naval Service and the British coast guard tracked Unique, co-operating with an intelligence group composed of countries with coastlines on the English Channel and North Sea. This group was formed after landings of Kurdish, Afghan and other immigrants in the Mediterranean and Australia, and it is intended to prevent similar occurrences in northern Europe.
A spokesman for the International Transport Federation confirmed last night the Unique is known to them and there are issues ongoing," regarding the vessel. While he would not detail the issues, they may include a crew requesting intervention by the federation, if the crew are in bother with authorities.
