RAAF C-130s continued to support operations in and around Australia during the early 2000s. During April 2003 a C-130 formed part of the force that tracked the North Korean freighter "Pong Su" before it was boarded by special forces personnel off the coast of New South Wales. No. 37 Squadron Super Hercules &amp; No. 36 Squadron Hercules took part in Operation Sumatra Assist in the wake of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami; the aircraft were initially used to fly supplies into the badly damaged city of Banda Aceh. Hercules flew Australian forces into East Timor during May 2006 after the government of that country requested assistance to quell a military mutiny and widespread violence. In July that year one of the C-130s deployed to the Middle East was sent to Cyprus, where it picked up Australians who had been evacuated from Lebanon following Israeli air raids and flew them to Turkey.