A MIXED Dutch and Caribbean leisure crew seized in Newlyn Harbour on suspicion of drug smuggling has been released.

Two UK Border Agency vessels investigated storm damaged tall ship Pacific Swift for five days last week after it was rescued and towed by Penlee lifeboat members to the port on Sunday morning, January 17.

The 40-metre, two-mast vessel was sailing from the Azores to Holland when it hit a storm that damaged its sails and caused an engine failure about 40 miles off the Cornish coast.

After an extensive search onboard, which found nothing suspicious, the ship's Dutch skipper, Ron Hulzebosch, has spoken about the ordeal.

The 67-year-old former Amsterdam nightclub and spa owner said he left the country with four friends in June last year to fulfil a long held ambition to spend a couple of months in Barbados.

During his voyage he experienced several technical setbacks that put the journey dramatically behind schedule. He also lost his original team after a few months and had to recruit a new one from Barbados from where he was hoping to make it straight home to the Netherlands.

However, contaminated fuel forced him to shelter at the Azores and from there he recruited his last crew mate, Dutch Hans Snoeijs, before hitting the storm around 40 miles off the Newlyn coast.

Mr Hulzebosch says his vessel has been searched five times in the past four months.

He said: "We asked why we were searched but got no answers. We think it's because it's an unusual ship and we are sailing out of season.

"They were searching for drugs, that's for sure. Around 20 officers investigated the vessel for five days. It's a big boat and there's a lot of places to hide stuff, if that's what we wanted to do. They were drilling holes and opening tanks. They could have locked us somewhere while they were carrying out their investigation but they were friendly and let us use their facilities to have showers."

Mr Hulzebosch says the experience has put him off sailing around the world again. But he says he and his crew are grateful to Penlee RNLI. He said: "I was so glad to see the lifeboat crew that night we hit the storm and we'd like to thank them for their help."

The crew are still in Newlyn waiting for boat repairs.