Spain was forced to apologise to Gibraltar after armed maritime officers strayed into the British territory´s waters while in pursuit of smugglers. Four Spanish Civil Guardsmen were seized on Monday evening after chasing suspected smugglers close to the Rock. Gibraltarian police detained the Spaniards and two suspected smugglers, who grounded their dinghy on rocks near a supermarket inside the port. It was the second diplomatic incident relating to tensions between Spain and Gibraltar in less than a month. The Spanish interior minister, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, made a prompt call to Gibraltar´s Chief Minister, Peter Caruana, to apologise for the breach and the Spanish officers were released shortly after. “Mr Rubalcaba called me personally last night,” said Mr Caruana on Tuesday. “He said that they deeply regretted the incident and he apologised.” The Gibraltar leader said he had been assured that there were “no political intentions” behind the incident, the latest in a series of maritime confrontations between Spanish and British authorities amid escalating tensions ovre maritime territory. Spain has no legal authority in the waters surrounding the Rockat its south-western tip. Gibraltar was ceded to the British under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht but Spain has never relinquished its claim of sovereignty and disputes Britain´s jurisdiction of the waters that surround it. The latest drama comes only weeks after the Royal Navy was accused of using a Spanish flag for target practice during a military exercise in international waters off Gibraltar. Britain's new ambassador to Spain, Giles Paxman, explained the target had in fact been a Nato flag bearing the same colours as the Spanish flag. But he apologised for the incident. via Spain apologies after incursion into Gibraltar waters – Telegraph . Submit this to Script & Style Share this on Blinklist Share this on del.icio.us Digg this! Post this on Diigo Share this on Reddit Buzz up! Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon Share this on Technorati Share this on Mixx Post this to MySpace Submit this to DesignFloat Share this on Facebook Tweet This! Subscribe to the comments for this post? Share this on Linkedin Seed this on Newsvine Share this on Devmarks Add this to Google Bookmarks Add this to Mister Wong Add this to Izeby Share this on Tipd Share this on PFBuzz Share this on FriendFeed Mark this on BlogMarks Submit this to Twittley Share this on Fwisp Moo this on DesignMoo! Share this on BobrDobr Add this to Yandex.Bookmarks Add this to Memory.ru Add this to 100 bookmarks Add this to MyPlace

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Spain apologies after incursion into Gibraltar waters

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