Migrant Offshore Aid Station charity says Bangkok gave go-ahead but later prevented import of two drone helicopters needed to find people in distress

A privately funded ship that had travelled to south-east Asia to save drowning migrants at sea has abandoned its mission after Thailand prevented the transfer of key equipment from reaching the ship, the charity’s founder has told the Guardian.

The Migrant Offshore Aid Station, run by American entrepreneur Christopher Catrambone and his wife, Regina, has rescued almost 13,000 people in the Mediterranean Sea and moved one ship, the MY Phoenix, to the Andaman Sea.

The Phoenix had been due to launch two unmanned helicopters to search large areas of the ocean to assess trafficking and prevent loss of life. The 40-metre ship would then rescue any migrants in distress and bring them to land.

“We cleared it with the ministry of defence, the Royal Thai Navy, the transportation ministry and the prime minister’s office,” Catrambone told the Guardian, speaking from the telecommunications room on board the Phoenix.

But when the two drones were due to transfer through Thailand to the ship, anchored on the Thai coast, they were blocked by customs for weeks despite guarantees, he said.

“Every single aspect of the process was disrupted,” said Catrambone.

The mission was due to start operations on 3 March to help save Bangladeshi migrants and Burmese Rohingya refugees during the dry season when human traffickers and smugglers take advantage of the calm conditions to make the route to Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

With the rainy season and rough seas starting in May, the delay forced the crew to abandon the mission as the yearly migration ends, Catrambone said.

“We couldn’t wait any more for the drones. Its a matter of the monsoon season starting. We would be wasting our time.

“We did not expect the Thais to have any authority to restrict [the drones],” he said, adding that the equipment would only transit Thailand to a Belize-registered ship.

Countries in the region have tried for years to ignore the yearly migrant crisis that has become a humanitarian catastrophe.

Human rights groups have consistently accused Thailand of ignoring the abuse of trafficked people and allege many officials are implicated in the trade. A former Thai officer tasked with investigating human trafficking said in 2015 that he fled for his life after he found senior figures in the military and police were involved in the trade.

Thailand’s military junta denies the claims and has also pressed charges against more than 100 people, including an army general, on counts of human trafficking after dozens of bodies were found in a jungle prison camp in 2015.

However, Thailand and neighbouring Malaysia have pushed the boats back out to sea to prevent the migrants coming ashore. When pursued by the authorities, the smugglers have at times abandoned their ships and left the migrants without food or water.

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Catrambone said his team, particularly the Thai partners it worked with to transfer the drones, had been put under surveillance.

“We tried to go along as best we could until all our people were scared away,” Catrambone said, adding that a man working for them in Bangkok said he was followed.

He said the Thai agent working on clearing the drones through customs suddenly told the charity that she would stop working with them. “Basically she dumped us,” he said. “We don’t know if she was pressured.

“It’s wrong what they did to us. Our paper trail goes back six months. We have dotted our i’s and crossed our t’s. We have done everything.”

The foreign ministry and prime minister’s office did not respond to Guardian requests for comment. Wednesday is a national holiday in Thailand.

The drones were due to stream live footage of the search area online. The operation could not continue without the drones, Catrambone said.

“When you’re conducting an operation at sea you have visibility of two nautical miles. A drone can cover 300 square miles around your ship. We’ve proven that model works in the Med.

“You definitely need air assets to operate at sea.”

The ship would now conduct a shorter two-week mission without the drones in the Andaman Sea but was being followed by Thai navy ships, Catrambone says. On Monday, he said, the navy conducted aggressive manoeuvres close to the ship as it sailed up the coast.

“We have the Thai navy shadowing us. We had them come across our bow. It’s like being cut off on the road,” he said.

He said the crew were harassed in Phuket port and that customs in Ranong, to the north, had tried to get them to enter the port.

“They want us in the port but if we are out at sea they can’t really do anything. I have a feeling they are trying to detain the vessel.”

On Tuesday evening the ship was allowed to leave.

MOAS plans to retry the effort in October when the monsoon season ends.

The government of Myanmar does not recognise the roughly 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya as citizens, creating a stateless people. In 2012 deadly clashes with Buddhists in the western state of Rakhine caused 140,000 Rohingya to flee their homes.

Tens of thousands have since left by boat, often using family savings to pay smugglers.

The exact number of those who have died when their ships sink or if the smugglers abandon the vessels to avoid arrest is unknown. Amnesty International says hundreds if not thousands of people perished at sea last year.