Swedish police revealed this Saturday (7) that they boarded a freighter suspected of belonging to the Russian ghost fleet, which was allegedly transporting stolen Ukrainian grain, off its coast.
The Caffa, a 96-meter (315-foot) ship, had left Casablanca, Morocco, on February 24 and was heading to St. Petersburg, Russia, when Swedish police came aboard off Trelleborg, in the southern part of Sweden.
“According to our information, the ship was essentially used, from what we understand, to transport stolen grain in Ukraine,” said the coast guard’s chief of operations, Daniel Stenling, cited by the Agence France Presse (AFP) news agency.
“We were able to determine that she is sailing under a false flag, falsely registered in Guinea”, added Daniel Stenling, adding that ten of the eleven crew are Russians.
According to the coastal police, one of the crew members is being investigated for violating the maritime code in matters of seaworthiness and safety of the ship: “Our investigations reinforce our suspicions and convictions regarding important deficiencies in matters of maritime safety on this ship”, said Daniel Stenling.
The AFP adds that Moscow’s “ghost fleet” is made up of ships whose ownership is opaque and used to circumvent Western sanctions.
“It is a problem for us to see that there are more and more ships that do not respect the law of the sea”, stated the head of coast guard operations, highlighting that “the risk of accidents increases” when ships do not comply with the legislation.
According to the official, “often, these ships do not have insurance in case of an incident”.
O Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybigahas already thanked Sweden for reinforcing actions against these ships: “Sanctions work when they are strictly enforced. Together, we must stop the activities of Russia’s ghost fleet,” these.
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