Moroccan forces foil hijacking attempt on cargo ship

The Royal Moroccan Navy successfully thwarted an attempt by suspected illegal migrants to hijack a commercial cargo vessel off Morocco's Atlantic coast on Monday, November 4.

The ship, which has been identified only as sailing under the flag of Liberia, was underway some 110 kilometres off the southwestern Moroccan city of Tantan when its crew sent out an alert to the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Rabat.

Moroccan armed forces officials said it remains unclear how the ship was boarded by the perpetrators, who also threatened that they will seize control of it and sail it to the Canary Islands 220 kilometres away.

The navy deployed a team of commandos to regain control of the ship and rescue the crew. The operation to liberate the ship was successfully concluded without incident and the 54 migrants who were on board were eventually taken into the custody of the local gendarmerie.

Officials believe the perpetrators had planned to sail to the Canarys to turn the islands into a jumping-off point for eventually gaining entry into continental Europe.