It was revealed from their statement that they had boarded the vessel with the belief of getting employment, as promised to them by some persons in Egypt, however, they had no clue that they would land in India! It may be recalled that two Moroccan nationals (stowaways) — Jaouad Elhili, (29) and Abdelkabir Benbassidi,(21) — had boarded a phosphoric acid tanker from Egypt. The ship anchored at Mormugao Port. After reaching here, they managed to escape from the vessel docked at Mormugao Port on Thursday morning, but later were apprehended by the Mormugao Police near Goa Shipyard.
Giving further details of the investigation, police sources informed that, the accused have claimed that they managed to escape from the vessel and then jumped from the vessel towards the MPT berth, when the vessel was parked at berth number 11 of MPT. Sources also revealed that the duo in their statement has also told the police that they did not use the sea route near berth number 11 to escape but actually used one of the entry/exit gates to come out of MPT premises.
Sources in police further disclosed that during investigation, the police visited the vessel from where both the Moroccan nationals had managed to escape and the police noticed that there was no forceful exit by these stowaways. This clearly means that someone must have helped the duo to escape from the vessel.
Meanwhile, police also confirmed that the Moroccan Embassy had contacted the Vasco police to discuss about the case and it has been informed by the embassy officials that they would soon start the process to deport the accused persons.
