An official report of the strange boat sightings off Ta’u village last month confirms some of the claims by villagers and not others.
A Homeland Security special agent was assigned to investigate the incident.
The agent’s report to Homeland Security Director Samana Semo Ve’ave’a states that members of the village of Fagamalo on Tau island spotted the boats and hurried to report the sighting to the matai of their village Ale Filoialii.
Ale then called the Department of Public Safety, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the American Samoa Department of Homeland Security.
It was also reported that shots were fired by one of the villagers as a warning to the boats.
The special agent quotes two different sets of witnesses.
Both were couples who were fishing in different spots.
The first couple was shell fishing in Fagamalo when they spotted three lights which were later confirmed to be boats.
The three boats were then joined by a larger vessel, and were “parked” about 2 miles off shore.
A woman said later on the boats began heading in the direction of the village of Fuli.
When the boats looked as if they were coming to shore, she and her husband flashed their light at the boat which then turned its lightsoff.
At around 7pm on Friday April 21st, a different couple saw the boats from the wharf in Tau.
According to this couple they were fishing at the wharf when they saw the boats traveling toward the direction of Fagamalo.
According the witnesses, there were two small boats and one big boat which were continuously moving.
A man in the village of Fagamalo, “heard the rumors” that the boats were in the vicinity and went outside.
According to him, he fired 3 shots into the air as warning shots.
He stated that he could barely see a yellow light which he thought was the boat.
ASDHS received Geospatial Intelligence of the Manu’a Islands for the night of April 21st Incident.
The Intelligence verifies that 3 small Chinese fishing vessels and one large American fishing vessel passed by the coast of Tau.
ASDHS has the names of the vessels. All three of these boats departed from Tutuila and passed by Manu’a.
According to the Geospatial Intelligence, the boats passed by about 2 miles off-shore which supports the estimated distance given by one of the witnesses.
The police officer in Tau went to the un-inhabited parts of the village where the boats could have embarked upon Tau, but the officer did not see any evidence of the ship landing or any signs of foul play along the shore.
The department did not see any further reason to investigate and has closed their probe.
