Flag: Tunisia
MMSI 672446000
A patrol boat of the Tunisian National Guard (Garde Nationale Tunisienne) that captured thousands of migrants at sea and deported them to Tunisia.
Operational base: Its main port of call is the city of Sfax.
In the global radar and maritime tracking systems (AIS) it is registered as a Law Enforcement type unit with the identification code MMSI 672446000 but almost always travels with the transponder switched off.
GN3505 left it on only a couple of times, which allowed us to track this patrol boat.
The case of April 24, 2023, is emblematic because GN3505 carried out a pushback in international waters, arriving just one mile from Italian territorial waters and 25 miles from Lampedusa while the Frontex Osprey 2 spy plane was flying over the scene.
Made in Italy: The patrol boat is part of the P350TN class of patrol vessels: 35-meter long and 7-meter wide vessels manufactured and supplied by Italian shipyards as part of bilateral agreements for the control of migration flows.
The overall order was awarded to the Italian shipyard Cantiere Navale Vittoria in Adria (Rovigo). Production of the twelve planned vessels (six of the P270TN class and six larger P350TN class, which includes the GN3505) began in 2012, with deliveries taking place in phases until early 2015.
The GN3505 patrol vessel is also one of six vessels undergoing component modernization, as part of the project managed by Unops. “Since 2013, the Vittoria Shipyard has maintained strong relationships with the Tunisian authorities regarding naval supplies and maintenance, always related to the same six vessels: GN 3501, 3502, 3503, 3504, 3505, and 3506, also known as P350s.” Source: Matteo Garavoglia/IrpiMedia.
For example, on July 31, 2022, the patrol boat GN3505 was in Italy.
The pushbacks involving GN3505:
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