STOCKHOLM — A Swedish courtroom on Sunday ordered the detention of the Russian captain of a ship that was suspected to be crusing beneath a false flag within the Baltic Sea and was boarded by authorities final week.
The commander of the Sea Owl 1, whose title hasn’t been launched, was arrested on Friday — the day after the Swedish coast guard boarded the vessel off Trelleborg, on Sweden’s southern coast.
Prosecutors suspect him of utilizing a false doc. They mentioned Sunday that the district courtroom in Ystad ordered him held in custody according to their request, Swedish information company TT reported.
The tanker was crusing beneath the flag of the Comoros, an island nation off East Africa. However the coast guard has mentioned that it suspects it is not within the transport registry there and subsequently there is no such thing as a flag state to vouch for security on board.
The tanker can also be on the EU sanctions record and had been touring from Brazil to Russia, in line with the coast guard. It was beforehand used to move oil between these two nations although it didn’t seem to have cargo on Thursday.
It was the second vessel crusing in Swedish territorial waters to come back beneath coast guard investigation in per week beneath suspicion of utilizing a false flag. The cargo ship “Caffa,” crusing with a majority Russian crew, is accused of transporting stolen grain whereas on Ukraine’s sanctions record. Its captain additionally has been detained on suspicion of utilizing a false doc.
Sweden final yr mentioned it will step up insurance coverage checks on overseas ships in a transfer aimed toward tightening controls on Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet ” of growing older ships, that are used to move oil and fuel or to hold stolen Ukrainian grain.
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