Swift action

THE heavily armed Special Boat Service ( SBS) used helicopters and fast boats linked via visual and audio communications to storm an oil tanker to rescue the crew from seven stowaways who allegedly tried to hijack it.

Compare this to the 1970s when the captain of a cargo vessel approaching the Humber estuary sent an emergency message that seven stowaways from the Cape Verde islands had taken over the ship.

The Detective Chief Superintendent for Lincolnshire and 20 detectives — including me, a detective inspector — clambered aboard two tugs and set off towards the ship.

Despite fog and a choppy sea and the fact most of us were landlubbers, we reached the ship in an hour.

We met with no resistance after climbing 25ft up rope ladders to reach the deck. The stowaways were handed over to the immigration service, who sent them back to Cape Verde. There was no question of hijacking charges or spending 25 years in prison at taxpayers’ expense.

GARTH HEYHURST,

Upper Froyle, hants.