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SCMP Reporter

TWO Filipino men claiming to represent the owner of a suspected illegal immigrant smuggling ship, the Sea Raider, were last night being interviewed by detectives from the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau (OCTB).

  Sources said the men arrived in Hongkong yesterday in a bid to explain why the freighter was being refitted with bunks in a Tsing Yi engineering yard.

  They met Marine Department officials, who alerted police. Inquiries are expected to continue today.

   Senior OCTB Superintendent Albert Kwok Cho-kuen said police were not seeking arrests but were keen to gather intelligence.

  ''We just want to look at the background to these shipments,'' he said.

  ''We want to know about the owners, the charterers and what the boats intend to do. After all, there is no criminal offence being committed in Hongkong.''   The Marine Department, which is currently inspecting the changes to the ship, has said the vessel will not be granted port clearance unless the owners or charterers can give legitimate reasons for its conversion to a passenger vessel.

  Sources said the men were claiming to represent Captain San Gabriel, of the Superior (SG) Shipping Corporation in Manila, which owns the ship.

  The company could not be contacted yesterday.

  The charterer of the ship, Mr Alvin Ng, also known as Alvin Wong, is in Bangkok and has no intention of coming to Hongkong, according to staff at his Singapore office.

  Mr Ng told the South China Morning Post earlier this week he would be in Hongkong by Tuesday to explain that the bunks and food on the Sea Raider were destined for oil rigs off Guam.

  He said the deal had been brokered by a now-defunct Bangkok firm.

  Mariner's Club chaplain Father Joseph Nijssen said crew aboard the Sea Raider were keen to speak to Mr Ng about alleged unpaid wages dating back to August last year.

  Meanwhile, Panama has yet to accept requests by the United States and Marshall Islands governments to take responsibility for the more than 500 Chinese illegal immigrants aboard the Panamanian-registered East Wood, whose last port of call was Hongkong.

  The US coast guard rescued the ship after picking up distress signals late last month, saying it had been hijacked.

  The East Wood, found last Friday low on supplies and without power, is due to arrive at the island of Kwajalein this morning under tow by a US coast guard cutter.

  Both administrations contacted Panama to say the future of the crew and illegal immigrants were its responsibility because the rescue took place in international waters.

  Father Nijssen said the international community should stand firm on Panama's responsibilities.



Pair quizzed over ship refit