‘Iron-bar wielding stowaways’ accused of trying to take over cargo ship
Four men accused of trying to take over a cargo ship in the English Channel have been arrested
Samuel Jolumi, 26, Ishola Sunday, 27, Toheeb Popoola, 26, and
Essex Police was called at around 9.15am on Friday to a call relating to the safety of the crew on board the Grande Tema, a 71,000-tonne ship which set off from Lagos, Nigeria, on December 10.
A dozen heavily armed Special Boat Service commandos abseiled from a helicopter on to a cargo ship on a daring mission to end a hostage drama.
As their Royal Navy Merlin helicopter hovered overhead, the SBS team – armed with assault rifles – rounded up the men and locked them in a cabin before freeing the ship’s 27 Italian and Filipino sailors.
Once the mission – understood to have been codenamed Operation Buckthorn – was complete, the troops were joined by police officers who arrested the stowaways.
SBS boarded the ship and detained the four people at around 23:00 on Friday night – 14 hours after the authorities were first alerted.
The vessel was sailing in circles in the Thames Estuary until the SBS unit were helicoptered onto the ship.
Crew believe the stowaways boarded the 71,000-tonne ship when it set off from Lagos and wanted to jump into the water as it was approaching land.
SBS abseiled onto the ship and detained the stowaways in a 20-minute operation.
No one was injured in the incident and police said the situation was not being treated as a hostage, piracy or terror-related issue.
The cargo ship arrived at the Port of Tilbury in Essex just after 4.20am on Saturday, according to MarineTraffic.com.
The ship’s operator, Grimaldi Lines, said there were no reports of injuries.
Once the mission – understood to have been codenamed Operation Buckthorn – was complete, the troops were joined by police officers who arrested the