HMAS Sydney stands off as her boarding party races to board and check a ship. Sydney ended the oil smuggling life of a 10-year 'veteran'.

An oil smuggler, sought for the last ten years for running the UN sanctions blockade in The Gulf, has been arrested by the Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Sydney.

The arrest took place last month (January) and followed three days of shadowing by the 4,100-tonne warship and her ship's company of 230 men and women.

Her master had, until then, been able to evade capture due to cunning and meticulous planning. His ship carried military-style direction, finding equipment with which to detect and avoid Coalition warships. The master had also learned over the years where along his route he was most vulnerable and to make clever use of tactical course changes.

Bringing the oil tanker to heel proved a task in itself in that her crew had set up passive defences. Doors and scuttles to the crew areas had been armoured and welded shut and the helmsman steered by means of an armoured periscope.

The arrest drama began on January 4 when the oil tanker broke out of the Arabian Gulf between Kuwait and Iraq at a place called Khor'Abd Allah (KAA) and headed towards Iranian Territorial waters.

HMAS Sydney had only just arrived in the operating area after a rest period in Dubai.

A coalition boarding team had attempted to board and gain control of the vessel in the KAA but due to the extensive passive defences on the ship were not able to gain control. The team had to quit the tanker before she enterned Iranian territorial waters.
Sydney was asked to take over the tracking of the ship when she entered waters of the North Arabian Gulf. A marathon chase was on.

Three days after the chase began and in the middle of the night a boarding party fast roped from Sydney's Seahawk helicopter.

The sailors carried their 'busting' equipment with them and were soon bending metal. After an hour's work, and with Sydney standing off for support, the Aussies gained control over the ship and directed her crew to turn for the UN holding area for apprehended ships in the North Arabian Gulf.

Within days of putting the 'veteran' smuggler into the holding pound, HMAS Sydney was again involved in a tense and dramatic chase. Sydney positioned herself to cover all escape routes from the Gulf to find one vessel make a run for it. The Australian warship saw the break out and set off at full speed to intercept. Sydney hailed the tanker and told her to turn away.

The tanker's crew refused and kept going. Sydney's boarding team went into action, boarded the ship as the crew tried to 'lock it down'. The sailors burst in on them taking the wheel, turning the tanker and taking it to the UN holding area.

In another incident, boarding teams from Kanimbla, using speed boats, boarded a vessel, woke most of the crew and found steel plates sitting beneath each window ready to be bolted into place to make entry difficult.

The Australian searchers checked the ship, found no contraband on this occasion, and let her go.

By Graham Davis