at the east coast\'s busiest port, suspicious knocking spurs hours-long stowaway search

Richard harfkin and Mark Mueller/StarLedgerNEWARK —The U. S.
The Coast Guard calls it a sound check, which is an integral part of a random, comprehensive inspection conducted by large cargo ships before entering the US port.
In the towering bus pile
The size of the container is fixed together like Lego bricks, and members of the Coast Guard are in the process of hunting down the smugglers. several containers are banging.
Usually, no one is carrying bangs.
Earlier Wednesday, a 850
Sandy Hook\'s hiking cargo ship sounds like someone has done it.
A ship carrying goods from the Middle East made an unphysical jingle in the depths of Aquarius, triggering a massive response to bring dozens of police officers and federal agents to Port Newark, there, the authorities are carrying out a tough container. by-
Continuous Container search throughout the day.
The Coast Guard said no smugglers had been found late Wednesday.
The aggressive response is indicative of concern in many ways: the physical condition of those who may have endured weeks of sea life in sultry, light-free boxes;
The constant tide of illegal immigration;
Perhaps most importantly, the fragility of the country\'s ports, which can serve as targets and entry points for terrorists.
Such concerns have been amplified in the sprawling complex of Newark port and Elizabeth Navy Pier, the busiest port on the East Coast, considered a soft spot for US defense among government reports and terrorism experts.
\"When you have these types of things in real time, you get a response like this,\" FBI\'s top official in New Jersey, Michael Ward, said on Wednesday.
\"This is the appropriate response we have made out of caution.
\"• 30: The container ship, the Ville D\'Aquarius, left the port of Jebel Ali in the UAE and went to the countries in the Middle East to pick up the goods.
• Ajuni 2: The ship leaves the port of Qassim in Pakistan.
• Ajuni 5: The ship leaves the port of Jawaharlal Nehru in Nhava Sheva, India.
• Ajon 7: The ship leaves mondra, India.
• No. 15: The ship docked at Suez and Damietta in Egypt on its way to Norfolk, Va. •âJune 27, 1 a. m. The U. S.
The Coast Guard boarded the ship at random as it approached New York Harbor (7)
Close to Ambrose lights, not far from Sandy Hook.
During a sound check on the container, members of the Coast Guard said they heard the sound of the tap, indicating that it might be a ferry. •âJune 27, 5 a. m.
Experienced pilot Dave Barry boarded the ship and guided it into Newark harbor.
• Ajun 8: 30 on the 27 thm.
The Aquarius pier is located at berth 57 Newark port.
US Port Authority PoliceS.
US Customs and Border Protection agencyS.
The Coast Guard, the national police and dozens of ambulances responded to the terminal due to the potential situation of the smugglers.
Authorities have isolated 210 containers from about 2,000 containers on board for inspection and started X-
Ray, open the container.
• 27 Noon, 12: 30m.
Of the 130 containers, 210 were inspected and nothing was found.
• 27 Noon, 12: 45m.
All but one ambulance left the scene.
• 27 noon, 3: 30m.
There were no ambulances at the scene.
• 27 Noon, 6: 19m.
150 of the 210 containers have been inspected.
June 27 11:20. m.
Despite the reduced activity, the crane continues to move the container on board.
Authorities have reported that no smugglers were found. —The Star-LedgerAndrew M.
McLees, head of the Newark Division of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau of the Department of Homeland Security, said the freighter passed the route of the New York port and the port of call.
Including stops in Pakistan and Egypt
Added weight for quick and wide response.
At a press conference in downtown Newark, the men were asked about the cargo ship, and Paul Fishman of the United States was with themS.
Lawyers in New Jersey
\"Let\'s say there\'s a ferry, you want to know who it is and why they\'re here,\" Fishman said . \".
Search continued on Wednesday night.
The crane rises the containers one by one from the belly of the ship and deposits them on the ground of the Newark Port Container Terminal, where, escorted by the Coast Guard, the vessel stops at 8: 30. m.
Coast Guard and immigration officials at the time
Charles Luo, a spokesman for the agency, said that Ray and physical examination were performed on each one, a process that took about eight minutes.
Authorities are looking at about 200 containers, which are believed to be in the part where the impact sound is heard.
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security said before 7: 00 in the evening. m.
More than 150 containers have been inspected.
The spokesman said the search is expected to last late into the night, although several vehicles with the immigration sign left the scene before dark and one with X-ray equipment.
By this early morning, the activities on the pier had been greatly reduced.
When the crane continues to manipulate the container on the ship, the site staff is reduced, the second X-
Ray truck left the terminal.
No new search updates were provided by the authorities.
In general, Aquarius\'s container is loaded with more than 2,000 cargo.
This chartered ship in Cyprus is chartered by CMA-
According to Global\'s website, CGM has a Global ship rental company, a listed company registered in the Marshall Islands and has an administrative office in London.
According to the website, Global, which owns a group of container ships, leased its ships under a long-term contract.
Aquarius leaves the UAE on May 30 for long trips to New Jersey and Va Norfolk.
Stopped along the way.
On June 2, it added goods to the port of Qasim, in Karachi, Pakistan, by two more standing in India, to the port of Mumbai, mondra, June 5, June 7, the Coast Guard said.
Eight days later, on June 15, it docked at the port of Suez and the port of Damietta in Egypt and then crossed the Atlantic Ocean.
After two weeks of calm, the events that led to a long search on Wednesday began around three in the morning. m.
In the waters near Ambrose Light, not far from Sandy Hook.
A civilian spokesman for the Coast Guard\'s New York command center, Michelle Krup PA, said the agency chose Aquarius for random checks.
Such inspections have increased dramatically since the terrorist attacks.
2001. it is now happening every day across the country.
The inspection team will usually search the various parts of the vessel, including the cabin and cargo area, look for contraband and scan the radiation of the vessel to prevent so-
Called \"dirty bomb \".
\"Part of the process includes a sound check, a series of bangs on a container or partition to see if anyone answers.
Krupa said that the inspection team knocked on a specific container and then heard a response, or the bangs inside the container.
Another coast guard spokesman, Rowe, provided a slightly different version of the incident later in the day, telling The Associated Press that the team apparently crashed into a partition or partition before hearing the response.
After about two hours, the return sound ended and the inspectors were unable to determine the source of the sound, Rowe said.
Different accounts cannot be checked immediately.
Veteran pilot drew Barry of the Sandy Hook Pilots Association in New York boarded the container ship around 5 in the morning. m.
Take it to Port Newark.
Barry said he had extensive discussions with Coast Guard personnel on board.
He said that the members of the inspection team told him that they seemed to be \"communicating back and forth\" with people in a particular container, which convinced them that the smugglers were on board.
Barry said the container was deep on the ship with about 30 to 40 containers on it.
Unable to open the hatch due to compact configuration.
\"The container is under the deck,\" he said . \"
\"It\'s not just sitting there, you can open it.
He said the container is believed to be loaded on board at a port in India.
The ship\'s manifest indicates the mechanical parts of the container bound for Norfolk.
After the ship docked at Newark Pier, no more voices were heard, and more than a dozen ambulances, as well as the Port Authority police and the National Police, greeted it.
In the afternoon, all but one ambulance were gone, and the Coast Guard countered some media reports that there were as many as 20 smugglers on board.
There was no result in the afternoon game, and Rowe said the Coast Guard was just \"covering all bases \". \" Star-
Ledger employee writers Ted Sherman, Steve strenskey, James quili, Ryan Hutchins, Thomas dinggs and Jason Grant contributed to the report