Canadian officials search ship for stowaways - find none
Improbable number of people were said to be hidden on container ship

It could have been the biggest of scoops for Canadian security services or red faces all round.

It looks like the latter.

The German-owned, Italian operated CALA PUEBLA was being searched at the port of Halifax, NS for up to 200 stowaways that authorities believed could have hidden themselves in the vessel and/or in the containers she carries.

When the ship was coming into port yesterday she was met by police boat and escorted to her berth. The crew were then taken in for questioning, being released up to six hours later, prompting angry comments from some of the crew. One said it was 'a joke'.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) searched the vessel but as night fell they were saying nothing. The ship had left Lisbon on the 2nd of April and acting on a tip immigration officials there had searched the vessel before she left but found nothing untoward.

The ship is owned by Reederei "NORD" Klaus E. Oldendorff Hamburg and with them is known as the NORDCOAST, but currently she sails on longterm charter as the CALA PUEBLA with Italian shipping company Costa Container Lines.

Many were puzzled by the intelligence Canadian officials are acting on as it seemed highly unlikely that anything like 200 people could be hidden on the 179 metre vessel, and certainly not surviving Atlantic conditions in the containers. It is also doubtful that so many could have 'sneaked' aboard the vessel.

Carlos Fortuna, Garland Navigation, Costa Container Lines' agent in Portugal was reported as saying "I think they will find this is a case of misinformation."

This morning at a media briefing in Nova Scotia, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said that no stowaways or contraband were found on the vessel and that all containers bound for Canada had been searched. Defending the search he said it proved Canada was 'serious about maintaining security' and that not acting upon intelligence would be 'negligent'

He also said it had been a 'very positive exercise for all of our agencies to be engaged in at one time'

The ship was built in 1997 by Stocznia Szczecinska S.A., Szczecin, Poland and has traded under many different names: CSAV BUENOS ARIES, DAL EAST LONDON, SAFMARINE NAHOON, ALIANÇA PARANA, NORDCOAST and her current name.