John, Bill, Paul and Nick are 4 ex Paras who served all over the world for our country including Iraq and Afghanistan protecting and helping others.

They left the forces and began a career as Maritime Security Guards protecting vessels transiting the Indian Ocean and the HRA.

On Oct 12th 2013, all of the crew and the security guards; 35 in total where arrested by the Indian officials for possession of illegal arms and environmental pollution. The crew and guards could not have known the arms carried were not registered and allowed in India. Nor did they know that the fuel bought and transferred to the ship was bought illegally. Meanwhile, the Farajallahs (the ships owners) both have arrest warrants out for them in India.

The men were thrown in jail and ordered to stand trial for crimes against the state. While all charges were eventually dropped in July 2014 by the High Court of India, the men’s passports were confiscated so that they could not leave the country legally.

But after almost a year of detention and living in limbo, the Supreme Court of India upheld the charges and remanded the men for trial. And, on January 11, 2016, after a brief trial all of the men were sentenced to five years of hard labour, and the nightmare continues for them and their families.

Meanwhile, it appears that AdvanFort Company, the vessel’s owners, have done little to help the men. The company’s owners, Samir Farajallah, the company’s chairman and CEO, and his son, Ahmed, who acted as the president of U.S. based entity, quit paying the crew’s salaries in November 2013. They have also done little to provide legal assistance insisting that they thought it was their insurance company’s responsibility.

For the wives and families of the crew, who are grateful for every media article that keeps their loved ones in the spotlight, it has been three long, brutal years. But, unfortunately, it could be many more years before the men are released and allowed to go home.