Explosives on freighter seized off Crete island not illegal: shipping firm

by Maria Spiliopoulou

ATHENS, Jan. 11 (Xinhua)-- The explosives cargo carried by the Tanzania-flagged freighter "Andromeda" which was seized by Greek authorities on January 8 off Crete island was legal, the manager of the shipping company that owns the vessel told Greek national news agency AMNA on Thursday.

"The crew should not have been held and led before a public prosecutor. If the authorities ask for further clarifications, I am ready to provide them in detail," Theodoros Rellos said.

On Wednesday, the Greek Coast Guard announced that the ship which had set sail from Turkey was bound for Libya.

The cargo was confiscated, the freighter was taken to the port of Herakleio, while the eight-person crew which included two Ukrainians, five Indians and one Albanian would be led before a Piraeus public prosecutor on Thursday.

The European Union has issued a directive that forbids the transportation and sale of arms and explosives to Libya.

Greek authorities found "Andromeda" was carrying 29 crates of explosives and other materials used in bomb making.

The skipper told investigators that he had been ordered by the ship's owner to sail to the Libyan port of Misurata and not Djibouti, the destination listed in the ship's itinerary, according to AMNA.

According to the ongoing investigation "Andromeda" has also approached ports in Cyprus recently.

Asked why the freighter had been sailing from port to port in the last two months laden with 410 tons of explosives, Rellos claimed that the ship had been chartered by two Turkish companies that owned the merchandise, but defaulted on their obligation to pay.

The two Turkish companies did not pay also the toll for the Suez Canal so that the ship could use this to go to its destination in Djibouti, he said.

"Due to the nature of the cargo we headed from anchorage to anchorage," Rellos said.

Regarding claims by Andromeda's captain that he had been asked to take the cargo to Libya, Rellos said that this had been part of an effort to find reliable storage for the cargo, which was offered by Misurata port in Libya, but the company had opted not to go.

Asked about the 102 safety concerns relating to the ship's seaworthiness cited by the Greek Coast Guard inspectors, Rellos said the ship was carrying out its last trip before it was dismantled in Turkey. Enditem