By RAY LILLEY, The Associated Press
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- Customs officers in New Zealand searched a ship carrying logs to South Korea and investigated its crew after an international alert suggested al-Qaida operatives could be on board, officials said Thursday.
New Zealand customs squads screened the crew of the log carrier “Athena” shortly after the vessel arrived in the southern port of Lyttelton on Oct. 2, customs spokeswoman Janice Rodenburg told The Associated Press.
Customs “screened the crew and searched areas of the ship,” after being alerted by a foreign authority that the vessel “may be of interest,” she said.
Asked what the matters of interest were, Rodenburg said: “I can’t say, I’m sorry,” adding “but you’ve seen what the Koreans are talking about.”
A report Thursday in major South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo said authorities received unconfirmed tips that al-Qaida operatives may be disguised as sailors on a commercial ship that was to arrive later Thursday in Kunsan port, 150 kilometers (90 miles) south of Seoul on the western coast. The paper cited unnamed maritime police officials.
The press offices of the government’s intelligence agency, the military and police could not confirm the report.
An official at Kunsan Maritime Police said authorities were closely following the movement of the ship. He gave no further details.
Rodenburg said she was unable, for security reasons, to say which nation had passed the advice to New Zealand. Sources who asked not to be named suggested it may have been U.S. authorities. National police headquarters declined comment.
Rodenburg and shipping sources were unable to say where the Athena sailed from to reach New Zealand, where it is registered and who owns the vessel. It made calls at the North Island ports of Auckland and Tauranga before berthing at Lyttelton.
“As a result of our screening of the crew and searching of the ship we cleared it from a New Zealand perspective for entry into New Zealand and for departure,” she said. Nothing suspicious was found during the search.
Officials had run passport checks on the crew and checked identities against the ship’s crew list.
They also ran “a final check before departure to ensure all members of the crew were still aboard when it finally left New Zealand,” she said.
“Our screening cleared the vessel and crew,” Rodenburg said. “It departed on Oct. 4 with a load of logs bound for South Korea,” she added.
New Zealand agents for the vessel referred inquiries to forest products exporter Carter Holt Harvey, which said it was unable to comment.
A spokesman for Customs Minister Rick Barker said the minister had been fully briefed but had nothing to add.
Inspector Derek Erasmus, acting district commander for police covering Lyttelton port, said police and other government agencies were aware of the situation.
Lloyds Register in London listed three vessels named Athena that could likely be used as log carriers.
Two were large bulk carriers, the first registered in Greece and managed by the Byzantine Maritime Corp. in Athens, the other registered in the Bahamas and managed by Greek company Petrobulk Maritime Inc., Lloyds information officer Anne Cowne said.
A third, much smaller ship was a general cargo vessel, whose flag and owners were not known and which was registered in Belize until last year, she said.
“It wasn’t ours,” said Evdokia Theodoridou, an assistant for Byzantine Maritime Corp., adding that their ship operates only in Europe and doesn’t call on New Zealand ports. “The Athena that we have never transported logs.”