Every month hundreds of suspicious seafaring ships enter Dutch waters without being checked. The reports are based on data analysis made by maritime information company Winward. The ship’s change their identification numbers or turn off their GPS systems to hide which ports they came from, according to the newspaper.
“Such actions can be an indication of illegal activity”, Ami Daniel, director of Winward, said to the newspaper.
Analysis report:
The analysis revealed that over the past two months at least 75 seafaring ships that docked in Dutch ports had changed registration numbers. And over 480 ships entered Dutch waters while their GPS was turned off for more than one day before. Several of these ships turned off their GPS on the Mediterranean Sea.
They could be hiding a visit to Libya, where terrorist organization ISIS is active and from where many asylum seekers try to reach Europe. This may indicate involvement in the smuggling of drugs, people or weapons, the newspaper writes.
No valid explanation:
According to Daniel, there is no reasonable explanation for a ship to turn off its GPS system. “Insurance companies demand that it remain on, especially on the busy Mediterranean.”
In Dutch ports, ships are asked to report which ports they last docked in, but the GPS data is not checked.
Malicious motives:
According to a spokesperson for the Dutch Coast Guard, this phenomenon has the guards’ attention. “A turned off GPS could be a (meteorological) fault, but unfortunately we cannot rule out malicious motives”, he said to the newspaper.
The National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security has conveyed that he “recognizes the problem”. Though it is not included in the quarterly threat report.
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Source: NL Times
