Indonesian authorities announced July 12 that they had recently seized an Iranian oil tanker and arrested the vessel’s crew members for illegally transferring oil to another ship in the country’s exclusive economic zone, according to the Associated Press.
Aan Kurnia, Indonesia’s Coast Guard chief, said the Iranian-flagged ship (MT Arman 114), which was transporting 2.3 million barrels of crude oil worth $305 million, was apprehended July 7 while carrying out the illegal transshipment of oil to a Cameroonian tanker (MT S Tinos) inside of Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone.
Kurnia explained that an Indonesia Coast Guard ship detected suspicious activities between the two vessels at dawn and tried to approach the tankers. At that point, the Iranian ship reportedly fled towards Malaysian territorial waters, causing oil to spill into the ocean after the hose connecting the tankers came loose. Kurnia said that the Iranian tanker ignored various signals to stop including loudspeaker warnings, horns and shots in the air.
The Iranian ship, its three passengers and the vessel’s crew members were later arrested by the Indonesian and Malaysian Coast Guards. Kurnia added that the Cameroonian ship managed to escape.
Kurnia said the authorities are still questioning the tanker’s Egyptian captain as well as its 28 crew members.
The tanker is facing a variety of charges, according to Kurnia, including not displaying a national flag, shutting off its identification systems, anchoring illegally, illegally transferring fuel between ships and spilling oil into the ocean.
The Iranian vessel was escorted by authorities to an island off the coast of Singapore for further investigation, Kurnia concluded.
