Four spies

at sea in a boat

The New Caledonian link with the Rainbow Warrior drama began on May 28, when a man calling himself Raymond Vel che and claiming to be a pro fessional yacht skipper arrived in Noumea to inspect a yacht he wished to charter. The yacht was the 11.6 m Ouuea, owned by Noumea Yacht Charters.

Velche, who had been put on to the Noumea company by the Odyssey Travel Agency in Paris, signed a contract worth CFP2 million (about $A17,250) to rent the Ouuea from June 8 for a cruise of 50 days. He returned to New Caledonia the following week along with two other crew members known at that stage as Jean-Michael Berthelo and Eric Audrenc, and the client they were taking on the holiday cruise, a Dr Xavier Maniguet.

The Ouuea finally left Noumea on June 13, sailing first to Norfolk Island and then to Whangarei in New Zealand,

about an hour-and-a-half from Auckland, before returning to Norfolk Island.

During the time the Ouuea was in New Zealand the Rain bow Warrior had been sunk and the couple known as Alain and Sophie Turenge had been arrested.

Police interest in the Ouuea and its crew was sparked by a report of a sighting of a meeting at which cars belonging to the Turenges and a hire vehicle rented in the name of the people from the Ouuea were seen together.

New Zealand detectives flew to Norfolk Island to question the people on board the lux uriously appointed yacht, but did not have sufficient evidence to hold them. Dr Maniguet left the cruise to return to Paris, claiming seasickness.

As further evidence came to light in New Zealand, two New

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Zealand detectives were sent up to Noumea to further investi gate the Ouuea and its crew, but by then the bird had flown the coop.

The Ouuea was last heard from when a radio message was received by New Caledonia’s coastwatch claiming the yacht was about 30 nautical miles north-west of the Isle of Pines off New Caledonia’s southern tip. However, the police are quick to point out that the message could have come from anywhere in the South Pacific.

Rumors were rife that the yacht had been scuttled and that the three crew, who by this stage were suspected French secret service agents, had gone into hiding, perhaps after being picked up at sea by the French navy, which has a strong pre sence in the area.

However the three turned up in Paris on Monday, August 26.

None has been taken into cus tody or charged, even though New Zealand authorities have now issued international war rants for them on charges which include murder and criminal

damage.

It has also now been con firmed that the three are French agents with the DGSE, their true identities being Chief War rant Officer Roland Verge, War rant Officer Andries, and War rant Officer Bartolo. All are also highly trained scuba divers. The only word of the Ouuea came in the Tricot report in Paris which declared that the yacht had been abandoned.

Questions as to where, when and how remain to be answered.

It’s not the first time the Ouuea has gone missing. It disappeared in December 1983 after being chartered for a week-long cruise by a New Caledonian man. It was found several months later in Darwin harbor, with a new name painted on the hull.

The yacht, worth an esti mated CFPIB million ($A155,000), was insured and will be replaced, according to Noumea Yacht Charters. The company expects a boom in its business this coming summer following the mountains of publicity it has received over the affair. Sue Williams in Noumea.

A Royal New Zealand Navy frogman at work in August on the long and difficult job of refloating the Rainbow Warrior.