ANTI-TERRORIST police officers were today searching a cargo ship in the English Channel in what Scotland Yard described as a "major security operation". They swooped on the MV Nisha at about 8am along with the Royal Navy and Customs and Excise after an intelligence-led initiative.

British ships were waiting for the cargo ship when it arrived in the Channel. Security sources said they were "acting on intelligence" that the vessel was carrying "terrorist material" but there was no specific intelligence that anthrax was involved.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said the ship was being inspected and the crew, thought to be Indian, was currently being interviewed and "co-operating fully". The ship had sailed from Mauritius and was believed to be carrying a cargo of sugar, he said. It was intercepted off the Sussex coast, about 30 miles south of Beachy Head, according to reports.

The Ministry of Defence said it was travelling west to east through the Channel.

There was no immediate danger to people living in the area, according to Scotland Yard.

The ship was boarded in international waters in accordance with international law, a police spokesman said.