THE SRI LANKA NAVY yesterday ordered the Syrian registered cargo vessel ‘MV Captain Ali’, seized last week, 160 km west of Colombo, to leave with a warning not to stray in to Sri Lankan waters.

Navy Spokesman Commander Mahesh Karunaratne told ‘The Island’ that around 6.00 p.m the ship was escorted by the Navy to a distance of 100 nautical miles off Sri Lankan shores.

The vessel had tried to enter Sri Lankan waters without following the proper procedures. It carried 884 metric tonnes of food and other material. The Navy confirmed there was no lethal cargo on it.

Commander Karunaratne said funds raised from gullible EU citizens and some forcibly taken from the Tamil diaspora in those countries and the UK by an organisation called ‘Act Now’, a pro-LTTE organisation via the fund raising campaign ‘Mercy Mission’, were utilised to purchase the supplies.

Kristjan Guomundsson, the Iceland national was on board the vessel at the time of its seizure monitoring the mission. He is an ex-Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Naval monitor turned LTTE sympathiser who headed the SLMM’s Liaison Office in Kilinochchi and later in Jaffna, Commander Karunaratne said.

Originally ‘Vanangaman’ a suspected LTTE operated vessel sailed from Ipswich in the UK transporting the ‘Mercy Mission’ cargo. They changed strategy for obvious reasons, Naval sources said.

It had changed course and sailed to France where it offloaded the cargo at Fecamp which was transported overland to the French port Fos-Sur_Mer and again loaded to the ship MV Captain Ali with another load of supplies, he said.

The second leg of the ‘Mercy Mission’ began on 7th May from the French port with MV Captain Ali.

Navy said the owners of the ship had said that they were unaware of the ship’s use by a terrorist organisation, its front offices and its sympathisers in Britain. (Courtesy: The Island)