A search by British anti-terrorist officers of a suspect cargo ship may take weeks, police said today, two days after the vessel was seized.
Nothing dangerous has yet been found after a search that has sparked speculation about a seaborne threat to London following the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington.
Officers are carrying out a fingertip investigation of the sugar-laden MV Nisha, now moored off the south coast after being intercepted by the navy on an intelligence tip-off that it might be carrying guerrilla warfare materials to London.
"It is likely to be a number of weeks before the detailed examination of the cargo ship Nisha...is finally completed," the capital's Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement.
The crew, mainly Indian and Philippines citizens, were still aboard and cooperating with police, it added.
The ship, carrying 26,000 tonnes of raw sugar, is moored off the Isle of Wight but was expected to move shortly, police said.
They had found no dangerous, hazardous or noxious substances aboard the Nisha, which had sailed from Mauritius.
The vessel's owners said they may seek compensation.
"It seems to us reasonable that no one person or no one company should be penalised for this," Mr Sudhir Mulji, chairman of The Great Eastern Shipping Company London, told the Independent on Sundaynewspaper.
It's society protecting itself and society should be willing to pay the costs. Mr Mulji's firm is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Great Eastern Shipping Company Ltd GESC.BO, based in Bombay.