by TRACY MOORE

A FISHING BOAT WORTH $65 000 was stolen while moored on the east coast of the island, and the owner believed it was snatched for illegal purposes.

Basil Atkinson, a fisherman for more than 13 years, said he left his 32-foot boat ready and stocked to go fishing early last Thursday morning, only to find that "the mooring was perfectly in tact, but his boat was gone".

"I went to the boat, got it ready and checked it, that was Wednesday night. It was at the mooring just below that blue point up there," he said, pointing in the direction of Consett Bay, St John.

He continued: "When I got up about quarter past five to get the [fishing] rods, I saw my captain coming down the hill. When I looked out I didn't see the boat. So I thought he may have brought it to the jetty, but when I looked at the jetty there was no boat [there] either, so I drove up there and found him on bay coming down ... and when we got there the mooring was in tact, but the boat was gone," he said, choking back emotion.

Atkinson, 55, said nothing from the boat has been found, but a strange bag was located on the shoreline from where he believed the culprits swam out to the boat.

"An old guy found a bag, which the police have now, on the beach up there right opposite the boats and it had in two torch lights, a compass, diving mask and a cell phone – right where they had to swim off at the end of the beach. Why would they leave it there? Obviously, one of them forgot their bag," he said.

"I believe it would have to be drug- runners and I feel that the boat has been taken to St Vincent. They probably will strip it and paint it so nobody would know whose it is. And they will probably come back here with drugs on it... I personally have informed a friend of mine living down there [St Vincent] and he informed the St Vincent Coast Guard and police."

He described the boat as his "livelihood" and a "one-only-built" Bowen Pirogue from Trinidad.

"I have had it for nearly 18 years. I had just put on a brand new T-top, brand new engines, and filled it with gasoline," he said sadly. "I use the boat to fish. That is my living. What can I do now? This was my only livelihood. I could not afford to insure the boat because the insurance was way too high. I have lost my whole life."