The master of a Grimaldi Group con-ro has told a UK court that he thought four stowaways could have been members of the Nigerian terror group Boko Haram.

The men were discovered on the 78,000-gt Grande Tema (built 2014) in December last year six days into a trip from Lagos to Tilbury.

The Echo daily cited Italian captain Antonio Raggi as telling the Old Bailey court in London that he was very worried about his crew's safety.