Albanian authorities stop ship with 22,500 tons of suspected Russian oil in the Port of Durrës

20/02/2023 15:43

A tanker with 22,500 tons of oil was seized by the police in Durrës, who also detained its crew of 22 sailors.

The Liberian-flagged vessel “Grace Felix” was to unload the fuel at Porto Romano, the industrial port in the Porto Romano area of Durres.

Based on information from the police intelligence, the “Embargo” operation found that the oil was ordered by the company “AV International Group” owned by Piro Baren and that it did not have the certificate of origin of the goods.

Investigations were immediately launched, which led to the reasonable suspicion that the oil comes from embargoed countries, specifically from Russia.

The ship had left from Azerbaijan and it is claimed that it was then loaded with Russian oil in Greek waters, near the port of Kallamata, from another ship. This practice has recently become known in Greece, for which the country has often been criticized by the EU for breaking the embargo with Russia. Currently, the seized ship “Grace Felix”, with the flag of Liberia, is in waters 5 miles from the coast of Durrës and the investigators of the Prosecutor’s Office are continuing the work in order to document this illegal activity, and to identify the citizens involved.

FOTO GALERI

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