Swedish authorities have seized an oil tanker believed to be operating as part of Russia’s covert shipping network, according to the nation’s civil defense minister.
Coast guard officials boarded and impounded the vessel Jin Hui on Sunday after discovering it was allegedly operating under fraudulent documentation while navigating through Swedish territorial waters.
The tanker was traveling through Baltic Sea waters displaying a Syrian flag when intercepted, coast guard officials announced in their statement. Authorities also expressed safety concerns about the ship’s operational condition.
As of Monday, the Jin Hui remained at anchor near Trelleborg and appears on sanctions lists maintained by the European Union, United Kingdom, and Ukraine, Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin posted on X.
Swedish prosecutors announced Monday that they have taken the ship’s captain, a Chinese national, into custody on charges including suspected use of fraudulent documentation and additional violations.
This marks the fifth vessel that Sweden’s coast guard has impounded 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 diplomatic mission in Sweden had not provided a response to requests for comment as of Wednesday.
Last year, Sweden announced enhanced insurance verification procedures for international vessels as part of efforts to strengthen oversight of Russian ships suspected of hauling oil and gas or transporting grain stolen from Ukraine.
