DORSET business leaders' adopted warship HMS Portland has captured a ship suspected of breaching the United Nations embargo of Iraq.

Type 23 frigate Portland has been enforcing UN sanctions in the Arabian Gulf alongside units of the International Maritime Interception Force since February.

Her crew have forged strong links with Dorset Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Equipment aboard Portland is manufactured by Dorset firms.

Royal Marines aboard Portland boarded the cargo ship "which bore all the hallmarks of embargo breakers".

Lt Cmdr Phil Sparke said: "Portland was in a perfect position to carry out an intercept."

Portland's Royal Marines deployed by boat under cover of darkness and took the merchant ship's crew by surprise, "gaining control of the vessel within a matter of minutes."

Extensive searches revealed an illegal cargo of fuel oil - in contravention of the UN embargo. Portland was tasked to escort her to a point where her paperwork could be pro-cessed and her cargo discharged appropriately.

But the cargo ship was unable to restart her engines, and Portland's crew had to tow her to the handover point.