In the U.K a tanker was boarded by S.B.S special forces at the request of the Captain to deal with stowaways causing trouble, but why... ?

New details have emerged of the dramatic raid by British Special Forces off the Isle of Wight yesterday. Seven people were detained following the incident on the Nave Andromeda, whose crew issued a mayday call on Sunday morning following fears of a hijacking attempt by stowaways. Reports suggest the Special Boat Service (SBS) took control within nine minutes of boarding in a daring air and sea raid. Four helicopters were scrambled to help the 22 crew members, with 16 personnel then boarding the vessel from the air, reports say. One frigrate, believed to be HMS Richmond, was also on standby. The raid was authorised by Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel on Sunday night. The crew are said to be ‘safe and well’ after a tense 10-hour stand-off.

It was reported that the crew were aware they had stowaways.  At what point they became aware of that is unclear.  If well into the journey they suddenly emerged, the crew could hardly do anything about it.  There is a series of protocols when an act of piracy or terrorism occurs.  The crew had locked themselves in the ships “citadel” and contacted the U.K. coastguard.

With the situation coming to a head, it seems the stowaways got violent off the coast of the Isle of Wight and committed an act of piracy to claim asylum.  Sounds like a plan....

One of the perpetrators noticed a gold watch on somebodys wrist and immediately assumed it was his.

It happens all the time with these Nigerian fellows...

According to the tanker's owners the crew was aware of the stowaways being on board. It isn't clear why they became violent but the stowaways on the ship in the Thames Estuary in 2018 similarly became violent when the ship neared land. The sensible thing for them to do would have been to behave themselves and wait until the ship had reached Southampton where they could have claim asylum.

My take? Having been discovered, they resisted all being locked in a small cabin, and the crew over-reacted to the situation and locked themselves in the ‘citadel’. Seems odd that 22 crew couldn’t handle 7 stowaways - there’s no suggestion of any weapon being threatened or used.

Not knowing the situation, SBS called in, sorted it in under 10 minutes without firing a shot. A nice safe training exercise.

If the stowaways planned to claim asylum, drawing attention to themselves like this was foolish. Far better to suddenly appear peacefully when the ship landed in Southampton.

it was a ploy to try gain entry into england.

It seems the captain and crew MAY have been aware of the stowaways' presence before the mayday call was made yesterday morning, however, it seems as if the story they're telling at the moment is that they didn't know and when they discovered them on the day they were due to arrive at their destination, they became violent.

Now, I like you don't buy that.  The ship made two scheduled stops on the way back here from Nigeria, the stowaways can't have known that neither wasn't a permanent stop and so why would they not have emerged at either of those times?  And did all 7 of them bring 3 weeks worth of food and water with them too?  Unlikely.

The captain needs to be questioned under police caution so that the facts can be ascertained.  Stowaways are to be reported at the first opportunity and the authorities who have jurisdiction at the time the report is made are responsible for dealing with them.