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Iran Releases British Sailors

By Rob Grant | December 2, 2009 | Iran |

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has released five British sailors who were detained on November 25. Oliver Smith, Sam Usher, Luke Porter, Oliver Young and David Bloomer were taken into custody, and their Volvo 60, Sail Bahrain, impounded, while on a delivery to the start of the Dubai-Muscat Race. According to conflicting earlier reports, the crew believed they were either in waters of the United Arab Emirates, or that a problem with the boat’s saildrive allowed them to drift into Iranian waters. Either way, after threatening to try the five for espionage, the Iranian government released them. The New York Times reported that a state radio broadcast announced that the Revolutionary Guard had, "reached the conclusion that they entered Iranian waters by mistake."

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