The authorities in Albania have arrested a tanker suspected of carrying a cargo of Russian diesel, according to Ship & Bunker.
The Port Durres police detained the Liberian- flagged tanker Felix Grace on Monday on suspicion that its 22,500 mt diesel cargo was being smuggled into Albania from Russia, the Albanian State Police said on Tuesday.
The vessel is alleged to have picked up Russian diesel in a ship-to-ship transfer off Kalamata.
"From the first investigative actions it is suspected that this oil shipment was taken from countries with oil embargo, specifically from Russia," the police said. "The ship was set off from Azerbaijan and is claimed to have then been loaded with oil in the port of Kalamata, Greece, from another vessel, in a quantity of 22,500 tons of oil combustion. "Following the actions, based on reasonable suspicions that this amount of oil originated from embargo countries and was smuggled, as regular documentation was not available, it was seized and the captain's cruise documentation, as well as the blocking of the crew consisting of 22 citizens, for carrying out further procedural actions."