A diving expedition in the North Sea resulted in a police action yesterday. Volunteers from Stichting Duik de Noordzee Schoon were mistaken for drug smugglers, after which the ship was intercepted by a heavily armed police unit.
The volunteers left Vlissingen on Friday to dig up waste in various places in the North Sea throughout the weekend. As they were about to return on Sunday, their ship was detained by the police.
“A helicopter was hovering over our ship and we were trapped by two police boats,” said expedition leader Ben Stiefelhagen. Broadcasting Zeeland. “Twelve heavily armed police officers from a special arrest team on board with us jumped out. ‘Hands up!’ they shouted.”
drug boat
Specially trained agents from the DSI service boarded the ship. The crew was forced to stand with their hands on the railing. Stiefelhagen says he saw a large freighter sailing near their boat all weekend. That ship was suspected of cocaine smuggling. “And the Coast Guard thought we were surfacing cocaine from the water.”
According to Stiefelhagen, it was not said for hours why the police were on the ship. “We had to change our course and instead of Vlissingen we had to sail to Rotterdam,” says Stiefelhagen. “We were held there for hours and were interrogated. They treated us like serious criminals.”
Eventually it became clear that the volunteers were not suspects and they were allowed to go again. Stiefelhagen says he understands the police action. “The police have prepared this action well and handled it professionally. Afterwards we can laugh about it and it is a special experience.”
Strange sailing behavior
Police confirm that the ship was intercepted yesterday. “A report had been received that a ship may be carrying narcotics,” said a spokesperson. “On the spot, we saw another, smaller ship near that cargo ship that showed strange sailing behaviour. It was then decided to check both ships.”
According to the spokesperson, nothing suspicious was found during the inspection. “The cargo ship that was involved in the first instance has not been found either.”
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