Sweden has arrested the captain of a seized oil tanker believed to be part of the so-called shadowy Russian fleet, Reuters reports, quoted by News.bg.
The detained captain is a Chinese citizen, whose name has not been disclosed. According to the prosecutor's office, he is suspected of using forged documents and violating legislation related to the ship's seaworthiness. Senior prosecutor Adrienne Combier-Hogg said his questioning was scheduled for today.
On May 3, the Swedish coast guard and police boarded the Syrian-flagged tanker “Jin Hui“ while it was in Swedish territorial waters in the Baltic Sea.
According to authorities, the vessel is part of a secret network of ships used by Russia to circumvent Western sanctions imposed after the war in Ukraine.
The case is the latest in a series of intensified actions by European countries against this illegal flotilla. The arrest of “Jin Hui“ is the fifth such case taken by Sweden since the beginning of the year.
The Swedish Coast Guard specifies that the final destination of the ship remains unclear, and the tanker itself appears on several international sanctions lists, including those of the European Union and the United Kingdom.