FBI, Coast Guard spot suspected terrorism-linked seafarers

FBI, Coast Guard spot suspected terrorism-linked seafarers    The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Coast Guard have found nine seafarers who have possible links with terrorism.
   The finding was one of the results of the a joint 14-month investigation, called “Operation Drydock,” into national security threats and document fraud associated with merchant marine credentials, the Coast Guard said.
   The Coast Guard said it and the FBI, assisted by intelligence and other agencies, examined the records of more than 200,000 seafarers with U.S. merchant mariner credentials.
   Merchant mariner credentials certify that an individual is qualified to work aboard a ship, and are required for all people who work aboard most commercial ships, including passenger vessels. The credentials are often used as an identification document that allows mariners to come and go from the ship while it is docked in a foreign port, the Coast Guard noted.
   A spokesman for the Coast Guard told Reuters it would not disclose what has happened to the nine seafarers suspected of terrorism links. The merchant mariners were either U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens, but the Coast Guard would not disclose their nationalities.
   In addition to the nine individuals possibly associated with terrorism, the Coast Guard identified “thousands of cases of possible fraud or other problems, including mariners with active arrest warrants.” The Coast Guard has canceled or suspended the licenses of some 200 seafarers for a range of offenses not related to terrorism, following the investigation.
   The Coast Guard, FBI and the U.S. Navy worked together to screen mariners serving on Military Sealift Command ships carrying material during the war in Iraq. More than a dozen commercial mariners who were scheduled to serve aboard sealift command ships were removed from service prior to reporting to those vessels, the Coast Guard reported.