Fifteen British sailors and marines captured by Iran last year were not in Iraq's maritime territory as the UK government claimed, official documents released under the Freedom of Information Act confirm. The sailors were apprehended in March 2007 because the US-led coalition designated a sea boundary for Iran's territorial waters without telling the Iranians where it was, according to internal Ministry of Defence (MoD) briefing papers. At the time, Defense Secretary Des Browne repeatedly insisted to parliament that the military personnel from their mother ship HMS Cornwall were seized in Iraqi waters.
