By M. Williams

It has been almost three weeks since a mystery ship with 76 unidentified passengers was intercepted off the west coast of Vancouver Island (by a combined security and military force from Canada under the code name "Operation Poseidon", acting on information received from international security partners), and later piloted into Victoria's Ogden Point Terminal under a veil of secrecy.  

This incident, (dubbed the biggest news story to happen in Victoria, BC this year), occurred just two weeks before the 2010 Olympic Winter Games' Torch arrived in the capital city, amidst much fanfare and many high-profile dignitaries flown in for the occasion.  

There have been precious few details made public about the vessel, its origin, and its passengers, let alone the reason for its unconventional arrival in Canada.  

Some might say that the incident has all the earmarks of a made-in-Hollywood movie featuring adventure on the high-seas together with heroic feats performed by a well-trained and well-coordinated police and military force code-named "Operation Poseidon", designed to neutralize evil threats posed by unknown human smugglers, arms dealers, and foreign terrorists posing as persecuted political refugees seeking a new identity in a safe, prosperous, and freedom-loving country.  

Every day it seems, we are presented with a new piece to try and fit into a very confusing if not perplexing puzzle. There are many questions begging to be answered.  

1. Why would 76 healthy, fit, well-spoken male Sri Lankan Tamils, (over half of whom have not only passports and other identification documents but also relatives or friends in Canada), choose to enter the country via its western gateway on a rusty ship...when the majority of Canada's 250,000 Tamil population, most of whom live in Toronto, have arrived by air with documentation in hand?  

2. Apparently first reports from military sources indicated that the migrant freighter "Ocean Lady" was immaculately clean, especially the engine room and other quarters, plus well-stocked with provisions such as frozen meat, chicken and rice yet was low on fuel. Two weeks later, the press reported that authorities had allegedly found traces of explosives on board the ship and in clothing worn by certain passengers not to mention tales of migrants having paid $45,000 each to a smuggler while having to endure a grueling, lengthy voyage, in which they had only minimal and skeleton facilities. And now we learn that this rusty hulk on the outside but immaculately clean on the inside was, (according to a foreign counterterrorism expert with ties to the current Sri Lankan government), a Japanese-made ship called the Daiei Maru No. 18 now flying a Cambodian flag and renamed the Princess Easwary - a Tamil-terrorist owned arms smuggling ship. Why does the story keep changing; why all the unsubstantiated conflicting reports; whose interests are being served in what appears to be a murky mess?  

3. What was the "mysterious behavior" of the "Ocean Lady" attracting the attention of a Canadian naval frigate that followed it for more than 20 hours off the coast of Vancouver Island?  

4. Did the Canadian authorities know that the mystery vessel wasn't carrying any contraband, illegal weapons, or posed any biological, chemical or nuclear threat, and that's why they decided to dock the ship at Ogden Point Terminal and discharge its passengers within a stone's throw of a densely populated residential community?  

5. Why has no one identified the name, "Seaqueen" which appears to lie underneath the "Ocean Lady" name on the vessel? According to the Port of Mumbai website, there is no departure record of a ship bearing the name "Ocean Lady", "Princess Easwary", or "Daie Maru No. 18", so why does a foreign-based counterterrorism expert with links to the present government of Sri Lanka and the Canadian media say the opposite? Why hasn't the Canadian government independently verified allegations made that the "Ocean Lady" is an arms-smuggling boat owned the Tamil terrorists, that its passengers are members of a terrorist group, and that they have been engaged in criminal activity?  

6. Why would security and police officials bring a suspect ship and passengers into a commercial port, next to the largest neighborhood in Victoria, rather than to a secure military base like CFB Esquimalt as was the case with the Chinese "boat people" incident ten years ago?  

7. Since members of the Tamil community in Canada seem to have known in advance that the ship was coming, the RCMP - who led the siege of the "Ocean Lady" - may have also known; and so at some high level, "Operation Poseidon" ("a near carbon copy operation of the ship's involvement in Exercise Byzantium Voyage" according to the Canadian Navy) may well have been planned in advance...will we ever know?  

How does one separate fact from fiction when there are so few answers forthcoming from authorities? Are we being led on a wild goose chase or down the proverbial garden path in the name of "safety and security"? Does living in a post 9/11 era mean that one should not ask questions, particularly when things just don't seem to make sense?