A ship whose crew were slapped with an arrest warrant slipped out of Maltese waters unchallenged because no patrol boats were available to intercept it.

The incident happened on Wednesday evening when the army’s maritime section was busy monitoring EU membership anniversary celebrations in Grand Harbour that included letting off fireworks from barges.

Shipping industry sources said the oil tanker, MT Atlantik turned off all radio communication when Transport Malta ordered it to drop anchor after the court issued a warrant of seizure. The arrest was ordered because of a dispute over the ownership of the vessel.

The maritime authorities asked the army to intercept the 60,000-tonne ship. However, sources said the army could not intervene because its boats were in Grand Harbour.

The tanker ‘disappeared’ from tracking screens and sailed away. It was yesterday located in Turkish waters.

More on The Sunday Times of Malta and the e-paper on timesofmalta.com Premium.

 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.