Sweden's coast guard has detained a tanker suspected of being part of Russia's so-called "shadow fleet," according to the Scandinavian country's civil defense minister.
Details of the Detention
The Swedish Coast Guard said it boarded and detained the Jin Hui on Sunday on suspicion of flying a false flag while transiting Swedish waters. The vessel was sailing through the Baltic Sea under a Syrian flag, the coast guard said in a statement. There are also concerns related to the vessel's seaworthiness.
The Jin Hui — which remained anchored off Trelleborg on Monday — is currently on European Union, U.K. and Ukraine sanctions lists, Sweden's Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin wrote on X. The ship's captain, a Chinese citizen, was arrested on suspicion of using a false document and other offenses, Swedish prosecutors said Monday.
Context of Increased Vigilance
It is the fifth vessel seizure by Sweden's coast guard in recent weeks. “Ships with suspected deficiencies in their seaworthiness continue to sail in Swedish waters,” Daniel Stenling, deputy chief of operations at the coast guard, said. “This is not acceptable. We have intervened before, now we are intervening again.”
Russia's embassy in Sweden did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Sweden last year said it would step up insurance checks on foreign ships in a move aimed at tightening controls on Russian vessels suspected of transporting oil and gas or carrying stolen Ukrainian grain.
