On Friday 3 April, the Swedish Coast Guard boarded and seized control of the sanctioned “shadow fleet” tanker the Flora 1. The vessel is suspected of having caused a 12 km (8 mile) oil spill in the Baltic Sea near the island of Gotland.
The vessel was then anchored off Ystad.
The Coast Guard’s press release states that the vessel’s flag status is uncertain, and states that “this is the first time we have been able to trace a discharge to a vessel subject to sanctions, and which may be suspected of environmental crimes”.
We have updated our vessel seizure tracker.
The vessel has since been released, with the Coast Guard citing a lack of evidence linking the vessel to the oil spill, and that the Coast Guard had been able to confirm the flag status of the vessel.