Iran has seized a foreign tanker in the Sea of Oman on charges of fuel smuggling, the judiciary says.
The vessel was intercepted “after legal documents related to its cargo were found to be incomplete,” says Mojtaba Ghahremani, head of the judiciary in southern Hormozgan province, according to the judiciary’s Mizan Online outlet.
He addsthat the ship was reportedly carrying “two million liters of smuggled fuel.”
“Seventeen suspects, including the captain and crew of the foreign tanker, have been taken into custody,” Ghahremani says, without elaborating on the identity and nationality of those arrested.
The seizure comes months after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards intercepted two Tanzanian-flagged tankers allegedly transporting 1.5 million liters of diesel in the Gulf.
Fuel smuggling is a recurring challenge in Iran, where heavy subsidies have kept domestic fuel prices among the lowest in the world.
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