There must have been some information that went to Scotland Yard GESC chairman Sudhir Muliji

Officials would not release further details but stressed there was no intelligence to suggest anthrax was involved.

GESC chairman Sudhir Muliji said the stopover in Djibouti was made before the current journey and was to drop off American grain as part of a food aid shipment.

He said the ship then went on to Mauritius to pick up the sugar and transport it to Britain.

"She was making a pretty standard voyage but then we are told there are all these places that are supposedly linked with al-Qaeda," he said.

"Obviously, there must have been some information that went to Scotland Yard and they decided to make double sure that there was nothing bad on board, which I think we must be very grateful for."

The MV Nisha had been chartered by the Mauritius Sugar Syndicate and was carrying 26,000 tonnes of its raw sugar.

Tate & Lyle's director of corporate communications, Chris Fox, said the company was co-operating fully with the police.

HMS Sutherland was involved in the operation, the Ministry of Defence said.

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