TWO men are facing deportation after an illegal immigrant swoop on a boat in Weymouth Harbour.

UK Border Agency officials and police officers raided a sailing boat moored outside the Harbour Master’s Office on Custom House Quay.

Two men, a New Zealander and a South African, were discovered to be in the UK illegally and were taken away.

The boat at the centre of the raid is the Scottish-built vessel Oronsay of Clynder.

Onlookers said the police’s marine section boat pulled up alongside the vessel as it was searched after arriving in port.

One eyewitness described the dramatic scenes, saying: “There were a couple of police cars and a police boat as well as men in plain clothes.

“I saw one crew member escorted away by two officials after the boat was boarded by the marine police.

“Later I saw uniformed police officers arrive with a box of forensic gloves after which the marine officers searched the boat.”

Police said they assisted in the operation and a force spokesman said two men were detained.

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: “A 37-year-old man from New Zealand and a 50-year-old South African man on board were interviewed. The man from New Zealand did not meet the UK’s immigration rules and the South African man did not have a visa to enter the country. They were refused entry to the UK and were removed to their respective home countries.”

Weymouth and Portland Borough Council spokesman Peter Gilmour said: “The council as the Port Authority has a responsibility to work with Government agencies to ensure that the immigration regulations are not breached.”

A friend of the two men, American Geoff Fremen, said he had been called by them to travel to Weymouth to secure the boat.

He said his friends lived on the boat and spent most of their time in Ireland and as far as he was concerned they had done nothing wrong. He claimed the two men stopped in Weymouth to alert authorities they were in British waters, as previously advised, and to pick up supplies.

“Because they did what they were told to do they were effectively kidnapped from the boat – their home – and now they are being deported. It can’t be any more unjust,” Mr Fremen said. “We are talking about two men from Commonwealth countries who are being deported at taxpayers’ expense for no reason. They didn’t want to be in England, they were on their way home.

“They weren’t allowed to collect their possessions and they stand to lose their boat because they can’t return for a year and will not be able to afford the fees so presumably the authorities will remove it.

“It’s ridiculous from every angle.”