THE spy agency ASIO has investigated a bizarre attempt by a mystery group to purchase a derelict former Royal Australian Navy submarine and take it back to sea.
The Oberon-class submarine, HMAS Otama, has been moored off Hastings on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula for eight years while a local community group has tried to turn it into a tourist attraction. But earlier this year, shortly after the submarine was advertised for sale on eBay, Max Bryant received an inquiry that he said "set alarms bells ringing".
"I was called up by an agent who said he was acting for another party and they asked me whether the vessel could be made to run again," said Mr Bryant, the president of the Western Port Oberon Association, which owns the boat.
"Then they called back and asked exactly how much fuel the boat carried, what was its range and how it could be made seaworthy again.
"These questions were very peculiar because a submarine is the ultimate covert vessel and you use one when you don't want to be detected. I became concerned that they might want to use it for something illegal."
Small submarines are increasingly used by international drug cartels to smuggle drugs between international borders.
The US Department of Homeland Security estimates that drug submarines now account for 32 per cent of all maritime cocaine flow between Latin America and the US. But no drug cartel or terrorist group is believed to have purchased a submarine as large as the 2000-tonne Otama, which spent its life from 1978 to 2000 conducting top-secret surveillance missions against Soviet targets.
Mr Bryant said the caller made a weak attempt to pretend he was a tourism operator.
"They claimed they wanted it as a sightseeing vessel, but there are no windows," he said. "This did not sound like tourism operators and it rang alarm bells.
"Anyone wanting to use a submarine in an operational capacity would be involved in something they did not want anyone else to know about."
So Mr Bryant called the Australian Federal Police and told them his story.
"They were concerned and they referred me to ASIO," he said. "When I spoke to ASIO they were very interested and asked me for details of the agent who had telephoned me. The chap I spoke to at ASIO wasn't that up to speed with submarines, so I had to explain some technical details to him."
Mr Bryant said he had not heard from ASIO again and did not know the outcome of its investigation. "I think they made some discreet inquiries," he said.
An ASIO spokeswoman declined to comment.
The mystery agent did not call Mr Bryant again.
Mr Bryant said his group had been unable to sell the submarine, which was purchased from the navy in 2001 for $50,000 with the aim of turning it into a local tourist attraction.
Mr Bryant put the boat up for sale after the Victorian government knocked back three separate attempts to win planning approval for a $4.9 million proposal to place the submarine on the Hastings foreshore along with a tourist park, visitors' centre and a sound and light show.
Mr Bryant said he was now exploring expressions of interest from the local council in nearby Frankston to buy the boat. He also said he might try one final time to win planning approval for the group's original plan in Hastings. "We have to do something soon, because the boat is deteriorating seriously in the water and unless something is done it will end up on the bottom as a dive site," he said.
Mr Bryant said the caller made a weak attempt to pretend he was a tourism operator.
"They claimed they wanted it as a sightseeing vessel, but there are no windows," he said. "This did not sound like tourism operators and it rang alarm bells.
"Anyone wanting to use a submarine in an operational capacity would be involved in something they did not want anyone else to know about."
So Mr Bryant called the Australian Federal Police and told them his story.
"They were concerned and they referred me to ASIO," he said. "When I spoke to ASIO they were very interested and asked me for details of the agent who had telephoned me. The chap I spoke to at ASIO wasn't that up to speed with submarines, so I had to explain some technical details to him."
Mr Bryant said he had not heard from ASIO again and did not know the outcome of its investigation. "I think they made some discreet inquiries," he said.
An ASIO spokeswoman declined to comment.
The mystery agent did not call Mr Bryant again.
Mr Bryant said his group had been unable to sell the submarine, which was purchased from the navy in 2001 for $50,000 with the aim of turning it into a local tourist attraction.
Mr Bryant put the boat up for sale after the Victorian government knocked back three separate attempts to win planning approval for a $4.9 million proposal to place the submarine on the Hastings foreshore along with a tourist park, visitors' centre and a sound and light show.
Mr Bryant said he was now exploring expressions of interest from the local council in nearby Frankston to buy the boat. He also said he might try one final time to win planning approval for the group's original plan in Hastings. "We have to do something soon, because the boat is deteriorating seriously in the water and unless something is done it will end up on the bottom as a dive site," he said.
as posted here
