From Lebanon to Ratnagiri via Somalia

The abandoned merchant ship found adrift off the Ratnagiri coast was spirited away by Somali gun-runners in January this year. This was disc...

The abandoned merchant ship found adrift off the Ratnagiri coast was spirited away by Somali gun-runners in January this year. This was disclosed by the ship’s owner to Indian authorities who managed to establish contact with him in Lebanon.

It is learnt that the United States intelligence too is keen on giving it a look-over.

The owner of the ship MV Al Murtada reportedly called up the Indian coast guard this morning from Lebanon and ‘‘expressed surprise’’ over his ship being found adrift.

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‘‘He said his last contact with the ship was at Port Sultan Qaboos in Oman in September.

“Sometime in January this year, the ship was hijacked by Somali warlords who had been using it for gun-running,’’ said sources in the Ministry of Defence, identifying the ship-owner as Assem Nidal Beaini of Khadeh, Lebanon.

Al Qaeda operatives are known to have kept close contact with Somali warlords and sources say it is possible that the ship was used to ‘‘extricate al Qaeda operatives’’ after the US attacks on Afghanistan.

‘‘We had informed the US Coast Guard headquarters number 14 in Hawaii and they want to send a team to inspect the ship. So far, even the joint rummaging team comprising officials of Customs, Intelligence Bureau (IB), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Police, Navy and the Coast Guard have not been able to carry out detailed investigations since the pitch and roll of the ship in high seas is making boarding very difficult,’’ said a senior Coast Guard official.

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Meanwhile, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has found two merchant ships by the name of Al Murtada — one with a displacement of 2,178 tonnes and the other with a displacement of 499 tonnes.

According to official IMO records, the latter was to be sold as scrap in Mumbai last December. But it vanished and was reportedly moving under two different names, one of which was Al Albatross.

Built in 1974, the ship was carrying different sets of papers too. ‘‘It appears that the gun-runners put different sets of papers to confuse investigators. We are still trying to ascertain why they stripped it off its furnishing, including bunk-beds, but left two AK-47 rifles behind. This will not just be an Indian investigation. The IMO, International Maritime Bureau, maritime agencies and US intelligence will work together to unravel this mystery,’’ said the official.

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