Tehran, December 13 (EFE). – Iranian authorities announced this Saturday the seizure of a foreign oil tanker that was carrying around six million liters of smuggled diesel in the Sea of Oman, with 18 people on board.
The head of the Hormozgan province judiciary, Mojtaba Ghahramani, reported that the ship was intercepted in Iranian territorial waters near the port city of Jask as part of an operation against fuel smuggling networks, according to Mehr Agency.
According to Ghahramani, the tanker, whose crew consisted of 18 people of Indian, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi nationality, “was traveling without valid maritime documents or cargo manifest and had deliberately switched off all navigation systems and auxiliary equipment.”
Iranian authorities did not provide any information about the nationality of the ship or the destination of the cargo.
Iran regularly reports the hijacking of foreign ships in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman to transport smuggled fuel, a recurring problem that authorities are trying to combat amid the spread of this illegal business exploiting subsidies and the devaluation of the local currency.
In late November, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards intercepted a Swaziland-flagged ship with 13 crew members on board carrying 350,000 liters of smuggled diesel in Persian Gulf waters.
In the middle of the same month, the elite force captured another Marshall Islands-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz that was carrying 30,000 tons of petrochemical products from the United Arab Emirates to Singapore, which Tehran considered “illicit cargo.” EFE
About The Author
