effectiveness of response in detection of ships breaching Australian borders, alleging it was detected in a remote stretch of Australian waters and photographed by a Customs airplane, which returned to base with the photos whilst a vessel was immediately dispatched. This was challenged by Senator Joseph William Ludwig, claiming that the extraordinary feat was the fact that it was not intercepted earlier, when one considers how far south it had entered into the gulf. The area in which it was found is notorious for illegal Indonesian fishing vessels and for people or drug smuggling operations. Senator Ludwig alleged that Australian Customs had claimed this was a region they had specifically been targeting, and then asked how they can hope to intercept illegal fishing boats when a massive tanker was missed for such a potentially long period of time. References Further reading Australian customs news release (via Wayback Machine): "Customs boards 'ghost ship' in Gulf of Carpentaria", 27 March 2006 Wikinews report http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-06/30/c_13377093.htm Ghost ship to be towed to port BYM News Home Page Maritime incidents in 2006 Tankers Ships of Australia Maritime history of Australia Gulf of Carpentaria Ghost ships