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Super yacht intrigue unfolding across Pacific

A tale involving a seized super yacht in Vanuatu and a mystery after-hours jet landing in Papua New Guinea is turning into an international intrigue with few clues offered to what is really going on.Suspected of illegal activities, the 75-metre long four-masted yacht Phocea has been under arrest in Port Vila harbour since it arrived from Italy, via Panama and Tonga, on July 14 last year.A Thai with a Vanuatu diplomatic passport, Vu Anh Quan Saken, reputedly owns it, but the Vanuatu Government cannot establish if it is registered anywhere.So it sits, stateless, in Vila harbour at the height of the cyclone season.Phocea caused political uproar in both Tonga and Vanuatu after cabinet ministers went aboard it before it had even cleared customs.Five women from the Philippines and Serbia were flown from New Zealand to Tonga to join it and there have been unconfirmed reports of diamonds, sacks of cash and illicit drugs.The latest twist is unfolding in Papua New Guinea where, late on Thursday night, a Boeing Business Jet – a modified 737 – landed at Jackson Airport after its offices were closed.Quan Saken, a principal in a company known as Amazonia Of The Pacific which is attempting to market agricultural produce internationally, was aboard with another Asian, also with a Vanuatu diplomatic passport, Saken Henry. The relationship of the two men is unknown but Vanuatu police have been trying to talk to them in connection with the mysterious Phocea arrival in July.Also at the airport was Vanuatu's Foreign Minister Alfred Carlot on an unannounced \private mission\.The PNG National paper today quoted PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill saying investigations were continuing into the unexpected landing.\Its crew and certain individuals on board were being questioned by relevant government agencies as part of the investigation