Search continues aboard 'terror' ship

A detailed search of a cargo ship seized in the Channel by anti-terrorist officers entered its third day today.

The 450 ft MV Nisha, carrying 26,000 tonnes of raw sugar, was intercepted in the Channel on Friday morning and is now moored around half a mile off Sandown Bay on the Isle of Wight.

The dramatic move by anti-terrorist police, the Royal Navy and Customs and Excise followed a tip-off that the vessel was carrying "terrorist material".

Although there was no official detail on how far the search had progressed, it is understood it could carry on for a number of days.

So far no noxious, hazardous or dangerous substances have been found, Scotland Yard said.

Police re-emphasised that the 24-year-old ship did not pose a danger to the public.

The crew, thought to be Indian, were being co-operative, but it was not possible to say when they would be allowed to leave the vessel.

Scotland Yard said it was not possible to say how long the Nisha would remain off Sandown Bay.

It was expected she would be moved to a different location in due course, the Yard said.

The Royal Navy frigate HMS Sutherland, which originally intercepted the Nisha on Friday morning in international waters, left the scene yesterday.

The operation was described as a "major security operation" by Scotland Yard, and security sources.

They said they were acting on intelligence that the vessel was carrying "terrorist material",

although there was no specific intelligence that anthrax was involved.

The ship was intercepted at 8am off the Sussex coast, about 30 miles south of Beachy Head.

Dramatic footage of the interception of the MV Nisha showed Sutherland trailing the ship by a few hundred yards.

Four rigid-inflatable boats then went after the merchant vessel, zipping across the waves until they pulled level on the starboard side.

The joint intelligence-led initiative involved anti-terrorist police, the Royal Navy and Customs and Excise.

The MV Nisha is operated by the Great Eastern Shipping Company, based in Bombay.

It had recently stopped in Djibouti, next to Somalia, which has been linked with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terror network.

The ship had sailed from Mauritius and was carrying a cargo of 26,000 tonnes of raw sugar, owned by Mauritius Sugar Syndicate, to the Tate & Lyle refinery on the Thames at Silvertown in east London, according to the company.

Chairman of the British arm of the Great Eastern Shipping Company, Sudhir Mulji, confirmed that the vessel had stopped over at Djibouti before its current journey to drop off American grain as part of a food aid shipment.

The ship then went on to Mauritius to pick up the sugar and left on November 20 to transport it to Britain.

The Great Eastern Shipping Company, which has offices in India, London, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, is a leading Indian shipping and offshore service provider with a

fleet of 38 cargo-carrying vessels.