Iranian judicial authorities have seized a foreign oil tanker in the Sea of Oman and detained its 18 crew members, according to Iranian media reports. The tanker, intercepted on December 12 near the port city of Jask in Iranian-controlled waters, was allegedly carrying about six million litres of smuggled fuel.
Tasnim News Agency cited judiciary officials in Hormozgan Province as saying the vessel ignored orders to stop and attempted to flee before being impounded. Mojtaba Ghahremani, head of the provincial judiciary, said the tanker lacked proper navigational and cargo documents and had its radar switched off.
He also claimed the crew was deliberately damaging the ship’s equipment at the time of the seizure.
Fars News Agency reported that the crew members, who are being questioned, come from South Asian countries including India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.
Ghahremani did not identify the country that owns the tanker.mThe seizure comes amid a history of Iran detaining vessels in the Persian Gulf and follows a recent US seizure of a Tehran-linked tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
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