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| Southeast Asia |
| Indonesia captures Iranian tanker for suspected illegal oil transfer |
| 2023-07-12 |
Golly. Is everyone playing this game? [BenarNews] Indonesia’s coasties said Tuesday it had seized an Iranian tanker and its crew suspected of illegally transferring oil to another ship in the nation’s territorial waters.After the United States targeted Iranian oil exports with sanctions in 2018, Tehran has allegedly used various methods to conceal its oil transfers, such as disabling their onboard tracking systems. The Iranian supertanker, which was detained last week, had set its automatic identification system (AIS) as showing its location in the Red Sea when it was in Indonesia’s waters, said Aan Kurnia, the chief of the Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla). Bob Eucker: "Juuuuust a little bit outside" "This is deception," Aan said about the incident that took place on July 7 off Indonesia’s Natuna islands. "We followed the rules of engagement to stop the ship, from communication to warning shots. We shot in the air, in front of them, behind them, but they still did not stop," Aan said. The other ship, a Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... -flagged tanker, managed to escape while the Iranian one sailed into Malaysian waters, Aan said. After being contacted by the Indonesians, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency sent a helicopter with a special forces team to board the Iranian tanker and take control of it, he said. A team of Indonesian inspectors took over the custody of the vessel, which was then escorted to Batam, an Indonesian island near Singapore, Aan added. The tanker was carrying 272,000 metric tons (2.3 million barrels) of fuel. The cargo was estimated to be worth 4.6 trillion rupiah (U.S. $303 million), the Indonesian authorities said. The crew members included Egyptians, Syrians and Ukrainians. "It was clear that these ships were up to no good, and one of them had been scrapped in 2018. So these two ships were not legitimate," Aan said. This was not the first time that Indonesia had seized an Iranian tanker for a suspected illegal oil transfer. In 2021, it seized another Iranian tanker and a Panamanian tanker over similar allegations. The Iranian tanker was released months later after a court process. A court in Batam handed suspended sentences of one year each to the captains of the vessels after finding them guilty of violating Indonesia’s navigational rules by conducting an oil transfer at sea without a permit. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #2 The fact that one of the ships had been scrapped and other factors are interesting. I am not sure that Indonesia would have intervened, had the perps not done so much suspect stuff simultaneously. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2023-07-12 11:42 |
| #1 The territorial waters of the Natuna Islands is a real mess and accounts for the presence of illegal activity there. The northern part of the Natuna's territorial sea is claimed by China. Malaysia has a claim, and Indonesia has a legal claim to the larger part thanks to a quirk in geography and the configuration of its island of Borneo. Pirates and flagged vessels with illicit cargo use the confusion of the territorial sea to try to outrun capture. It both worked, and didn't work this time. |
| Posted by: Tarzan Grolump8219 2023-07-12 09:25 |