None of the government authorities are assuming responsibility for the escape of another cargo ship from Maltese territorial waters, despite a court order for the seizure of the vessel.

Despite the third such escape during the last year, a spokesperson for Transport Minister Joe Mizzi played down the seriousness of this incident.

The 85-metre Turkish vessel MV Feyza Genc left Malta on July 24 notwithstanding an arrest warrant issued on the request of Cassar Fuel Ltd claiming that the ship’s company owed it more than €40,000 in fuel.

A spokesperson for Mr Mizzi said: “This incident is a civil case between two private entities and it does not impinge on Malta’s maritime reputation.”

Transport Malta, which by law is the responsible authority to make sure that an arrest warrant is observed, said it had passed on the message to the Armed Forces of Malta so that the arrest becomes enforceable. However, the AFM said Transport Malta’s requests to the AFM were all acceded to “in an expedient manner”.

Asked to give details on when the army was given notice of the arrest warrant and to specify the time in which it sent its assets to the area where the ship was anchored, the AFM did not reply.

Instead, its spokesman insisted that the AFM adhered to all the instructions as soon as they were passed on by Transport Malta.

The Times of Malta received unconfirmed reports that the response by the Maltese authorities following the issue of the arrest warrant on July 24 was slow and that the ship involved had no difficulty switching off its satellite tracking system, lift the anchor and sail away.

Normally, when a vessel switches off its satellite system, the monitoring authorities become immediately aware that something must be going on.

According to sources, the ship’s escape was also facilitated by the fact that it was anchored in ‘Bunkering Area 3’, the most distant bunkering area from the Maltese coast and just three miles away from international waters.

The sources said that at the time of the arrest warrant, the AFM was not in a position to dispatch any of its patrol boats to the area. Later, it sent a rubber dingy to stop the 85 metre-long vessel. However, by the time the dingy arrived, the MV Feyza Genc was already outside territorial waters. Asked to confirm that the AFM sent a dinghy to stop the cargo ship instead of a patrol boat, the army did not reply.

The arrest warrant against the Turkish vessel was issued on the request of Cassar Fuel Ltd claiming that the ship’s company owed it more than €40,000 in fuel.

However, in a statement sent to this newspaper, the ship’s company said it was not true that it owed Cassar Fuel any money as it had settled the bill with Global Bunkers Ltd, the agent representing Cassar Fuel Ltd.

A spokesman for the vessel’s company argued that the ship had no issue and that Cassar Fuel Ltd should discuss its dues with the agent.

However, the ship’s company did not explain why it ignored the court’s arrest warrant and decided to sail away instead of presenting its case in court.

This was the latest incident involving a vessel ignoring a Maltese arrest warrant.

In April 2014, the MV Atlantik sailed out of Maltese waters unhindered following the issue of an arrest warrant over €900,000 in dues to a Liberian-registered company.

The same happened in August 2014 when the MV Madra also ignored a Maltese arrest warrant.

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