Four Sri Lankan stowaways caught disguised as crew on CMA CGM boxship

Four Sri Lankan men are now in custody after being sent home as a stowaway on a container ship. Details of the situation are still being investigated by Sri Lankan authorities as they also search for accomplices in the port of Colombo. It appears to have been an organized effort, contrary to initial reports, that four youths were found on board the ship.

The men, aged 25 to 32, boarded the CMA CGM Panama, a Malta-registered 157,000 dwt container ship, at the port of Colombo, Sri Lanka, on March 24. The ship loaded containers with Sri Lankan-made clothing part of its itinerary, which takes the ship from Asia through the Suez Canal, stopping in Tunisia before continuing across the Atlantic to Canada and the United States. It is unclear if they thought they were on a ship bound for Europe or if they knew the destination.

According to media reports, the ship left Colombo on March 25 with a capacity of 14,855 TEU. Despite being a large ship, measuring 1,200 feet, media reports suggest the four stowaways went undetected for at least a week. The ship covered approximately 7,300 nautical miles.

The CMA CGM Panama stopped at the southern entrance to the Suez Canal on April 1 and reported that the ship was subjected to a mandatory security screening. It was there that the captain reportedly spotted the four people. When they were found, reports said they were dressed like crew members of the container ship.

The captain reported finding the four people and consulted the shipping company. Instead of keeping her in Egypt, it was decided to transfer her to another ship, the Jackson Bay (50,600 tdwt), which was heading south on the Suez Canal and bound for Malaysia. Some reports said the smaller container ship (4,250 TEU) was also operated by CMA CGM, but it does not appear on the company’s current schedule and databases reflect that it is managed by Eastern Pacific. The four people were held in a cabin during the return journey across the Indian Ocean.

Sri Lanka Police offered the container ship as it passed as it was not to make port call. They were taken to the southern port city of Galle, where the four men were produced before a magistrate on April 11. They have been ordered to be held until April 18 while investigations continue.

Authorities want to know how the men entered the port and boarded the ship. They are also investigating how they were able to obtain clothing to dress like the container ship’s crew members.

Source: News Network