Border policemen aboard of Stefan cel Mare MAI
1105, in mission in Italy, within the joint operation AENEAS 2013,
coordinated by FRONTEX agency, detected and detained a suspect
ship, which folowing the investigations led by the Italian
authorities, proved to be a "mother ship", involved in the
transportation of hundreds of irregular migrants to Italy. At the
moment of its detection, the ship without flag was transferring on
another smaller boat 199 immigrants who declared to be Syrian; the
immigrants were rescued by Romanian border policemen in cooperation
with the Italian authorities.
The main purpose of the Joint Maritime Operation AENEAS 2013 is
countering illegal migration at the EU external maritime
borders.
In the night between 10/11 September 2013, Stefan cel Mare (MAI 1105) vessel, which was in patrol mission, within the Joint Maritime Operation AENEAS 2013 coordinated by FRONTEX (European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States) detected a ship without flag with many persons aboard, which was towing another smaller boat.
After the monitoring carried out by Romanian border policemen, it was established that the target adopted a modus operandi known as "mother ship and daughter ship": a fishing ship without flag tows a smaller size boat and subsequently the migrants are transferred on this smaller boat in order to reach the shore more rapidly.
The International Coordination Center (ICC) immediately disposed the monitoring from distance of the migrants’ transfer from the "mother ship" to the rapid boat. After the necessary evidence was collected, a helicopter and a ship of the Guardia di Finanza together with a ship of the Italian Coast Guard acted for rescuing the migrants and the ICC of the Joint Operation disposed that the MAI 1105 ship iniated the procedures for stopping and retaining the suspect ship, because based on the operational information / evidences on site and on other information at the ICC level, the Italian judiciary authorities had issued a warrant of seizure of the ship with facilitators.
The Romanian ship Stefan del Mare and another ship of the Italian Guardia di Finanza acting under Frontex aegis, assisted by Italian and Greek air support units proceeded to the boarding of the ship without flag in the international waters enforcing the warrant of seizure issued by the Districtual Prosecutor’ Office of Catania (Procura Distrettuale Della Repubblica, Direzione Distrettuale Antimafia).
The suspect ship was seized and towed in Catania harbour, the crew members are currently being subject to investigations by the Italian authorities.
199 migrants, 85 men, 50 women and 64 minors were rescued and transported by the Italian ships to Siracusa harbour.
At the end of the operation, Stefan cel Mare MAI 1105 vessel resumed its mission within the Frontex operation.
This action is the fourth important action solved with the support of Romanian border policemen, after the three cases in which 297 irregular migrants were rescued from the Italian territorial waters.
Italian authorities mentioned at a press conference that it was the first mother ship to be seized in the international waters and on this occasion the Romanian vessel had a great contribution in collecting the evidence proving the involvement of the ship as means used by an organized criminal group operating in Italy and Egypt for transferring clandestine migrants.