TBILISI - Georgian coastguards detained a Turkish cargo ship carrying eight Turkish passengers as it prepared to dock in the breakaway region of Abkhazia in defiance of a Georgian ban on docking there, officials said Monday.
The Taric Guner was detained outside the port of Sukhumi on Sunday and was escorted with its passengers on board to Poti, a port under the control of Georgia's central authorities in Tbilisi, chief coastguard Koba Bochorishvili said.
"When the signal to stop was issued, the Turkish vessel changed course and tried to leave in the direction of the Russian port of Sochi," he told AFP said.
"Building materials were found on board marked for delivery to Abkhazia," Bochorishvili said.
The ship's captain had previously received a warning from Georgian coastguards after docking illegally in Abkhazia on a previous occasion, he added.
The incident comes after Georgia's foreign ministry in late June issued a reminder of the ban issued last August on landing on Abkhazia's coast without Tbilisi's permission.
The pro-Western leadership of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has made a priority of regaining control of Abkhazia and another breakaway territory, South Ossetia, since coming to power in a "rose revolution" at the end of 2003.
Both territories are centres of illicit trade and are widely seen as propped up by Moscow.
07/04/2005 15:28 GMT