60 Minutes case: The boat that would have taken Sally Faulkner and her children home

THIS is the boat that would have taken Sally Faulkner and her children home, if the 60 Minutes child recovery mission had been successful.

** news.com.au OUT ** NO NEWS.COM.AU ** Motorcruiser harboured at the Marina of Movenpick Hotel and Resort in Beirut. It was going to be used to take Sally Faulkner kids to Cyprus after the kidnapping. Picture Ella Pellegrini

THERE is not much to distinguish the large Flybridge motor cruiser from the others in the packed marina of the Movenpick Hotel & Resort in Beirut.

Its Greek flag of origin flaps effortlessly in the Mediterranean breeze, a zodiac motor boat is strapped tight to its back lower deck and large blue buoys ensure its pristine white sheen is not damaged in the to and fro of the tide.

But this boat is different, a hint of its uniqueness expressed in a small handwritten note stuck to its rear window which reads: “Being held for the general prosecution appeal in Mount Lebanon”.

The large chains and padlock sealing its interior also hints of something different.

This is the boat that would have taken Sally Faulker and her children home, if the 60 Minutes child recovery mission had been successful. Picture: Ella Pellegrini

Sally Faulkner with her two children, Noah and Lahela. Picture: Supplied

This is the boat that was to have spirited a controversial child extraction team and a Brisbane mother and her two children to flee Lebanon to Cyprus in a bitter custody dispute that has now caused a diplomatic incident.

The “Kaboypaki” arrived in Beirut and was processed through Customs last Wednesday as it entered the harbour with two women and three men on-board.

A sign on the door of the motorcruiser that read “being held for the general prosecution appeal in Mount Lebanon”. Picture: Ella Pellegrini

One of those at the helm was Adam Whittington head of Child Abduction Recovery International who had planned to snatch Sally Faulkner’s children from the Lebanese capital and return them to Australia via a cruise to Cyprus.

He is now languishing in jail on charges of kidnapping with his dramatic attempt to retake the children captured on CCTV and being used by prosecutors at the Baabda Palace of Justice in Mount Lebanon to hand him the maximum sentence of 20 years hard labour at the notorious Roumieh prison.

The motorcruiser harboured at the Marina of Movenpick Hotel and Resort in Beirut. Picture: Ella Pellegrini

It is not clear who was on the boat when it docked but police confirmed two people were still being sought, one believed to be the Dutch girlfriend of one of the men on board being sought and the other a Romanian national.

The Channel 9 60 Minutes crew led by Tara Brown had earlier reportedly checked into the 5-star Movenpick and invited Ms Faulkner to join them there.

Mr Whittington had even bragged on an ABC report from the deck of the boat just 24 hours before his snatch operation that he was working on something big with the Nine Network.

For now the mooring remains off limits with investigators to gather further evidence from the large cruiser, which can sleep 10, and the case against the 10 accused goes into another week.