Ukraine detains ship captain for transporting stolen grain from Crimea
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The captain of a foreign vessel, a citizen of Azerbaijan, who helped Russians illegally export Ukrainian grain from temporarily occupied Crimea, was detained in Odesa Oblast, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported on Telegram on July 11.
According to the investigation, during 2023-2024, the vessel turned off its GPS tracker (Automatic Identification System, AIS) and repeatedly docked at the seaport of Sevastopol to pick up stolen agricultural products. The goods were transported to the Middle East.
The Prosecutor General's Office clarified that the USKO MFU, flying the flag of Cameroon, first illegally entered the port in Sevastopol, which was closed by Ukraine, in November 2023. There, it was loaded with more than three thousand tons of agricultural products for a Turkish company.
In May 2024, the vessel entered Crimea for the second time with the AIS system turned off, where it unloaded goods from Turkey. After that, the vessel switched on AIS and entered a port in the Republic of Moldova on July 2.
While passing through the port of Reni, the USKO MFU was detained and arrested. Documents from the occupied Crimea were found on board.
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