A British court has scheduled a December trial for Ajay Pant, the 38-year-old Indian master of the detained tanker Smyrtos, over an alleged breach of UK sanctions covering seaborne shipments of Russian oil, according to TradeWinds.
Pant is charged under Regulation 46Z9B of the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 with directly or indirectly supplying or delivering prohibited oil or oil products by ship from Russia to a third country during June 2026.
The Crown Prosecution Service has said the proceedings remain active and that Pant is entitled to a fair trial. No conviction has been recorded.
Royal Marine Commandos and National Crime Agency officers boarded the 244-metre Smyrtos on 14 June, about 25 miles south of the Isle of Wight. UK authorities said the tanker was sailing without nationality and carrying sanctioned Russian oil. The six-hour operation ended without resistance, after which the vessel was taken to an anchorage outside the port limits at Weymouth and detained.
Pant appeared by video link from Bournemouth police station at Southampton Magistrates’ Court on 16 June. He confirmed his identity and Indian address but gave no indication of a plea at that hearing. District Judge David Robinson sent the case to Bournemouth Crown Court for a plea and trial preparation hearing on 16 July and remanded Pant in custody.
Prosecutor Varun Chuni said the offence carried a maximum sentence of 10 years and that the tanker was carrying 98,000 tonnes of oil.
Pant’s solicitor, James Diamond, said: “It was not his choice as to where this vessel was going or the cargo this vessel was carrying.”
The other 24 crew members, who are nationals of India and Georgia, remained aboard the vessel after the interdiction. The cargo was identified as 101,400 tonnes of Urals crude loaded at Russia’s Ust-Luga terminal on 4 June for delivery to Sikka in India.