Indonesian navy seizes tanker wanted by Cambodian authorities over oil heist

Indonesia's navy on Wednesday, 25 August 2021, said that it has seized a Bahamian-flagged tanker MT Strovolos and its crew off the coast of Sumatra that was wanted on charges of an organised oil heist, according to multiple reports. The vessel was seized on July 27 after Phnom Penh issued a red notice via INTERPOL to seize the vessel after it allegedly stole nearly 300,000 barrels of crude oil from Cambodia. Indonesia's navy stated that it was questioning the crew of the vessel at a base in Singapore, which includes 13 Indians, three Bangladeshis and three other employees from Myanmar. The contested vessel, 183-metre (600-foot) in size, was sailing from Thailand to Indonesia's Batam island when it was seized by Indonesian Naval forces. 

Indonesian Navy’s First Fleet commander Arsyad Abdullah said in a statement that his forces “will not hesitate” to take stringent action against any criminal activity that takes place in Indonesia's jurisdictional territory. The vessel was sailing from Thailand to Indonesia's Batam island when it came under the Indonesian Navy’s radar. Reports suggest that the vessel’s identification system was at the time turned off, and it was anchored illegally in the Indonesian waters. The Navy stated that the Bangladeshi captain risks facing a $14,000 penalty for breaching the maritime laws and up to one year of imprisonment if proven guilty.  Singapore's KrisEnergy had rented the now seized vessel to Cambodia for storage in its bid to extract its own oil, authorities said, according to several agencies. 

Oil heist reports inaccurate, says operator company 

Operator for Bahamas-flagged products tanker, however, denied the allegations of oil heist calling the reports ‘inaccurate’. Even as the vessel was detained transiting the Indonesian waters for anchoring without permission, it dismissed the charges about illegally transporting Cambodian crude oil. The ship’s captain stated that the vessel had to stop by off Batam to conduct a ‘long-overdue' crew change. But the Indonesian Navy had no knowledge of approvals from the government. The ship’s operator, World Tankers Management, argued that the vessel had sailed to Indonesia purely for humanitarian reasons and is “operating within the scope of its charter.”

The company denied oil heist reports, saying that the ship’s charterers loaded a cargo of crude oil at Cambodia’s Apsara field in the Gulf of Thailand “on the understanding that the cargo belonged to the charters.” The incident occurred in May. It further added, in a statement, that Strovolos and its crew sailed to Thailand for refuelling and Indonesia for crew change as the men had remained on board since September. 

“Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the crew transfer was never conducted and the charter was eventually terminated,” the ship’s company asserted in a statement. It added that in Thailand, the ship was boarded by the Royal Thai Navy, but was not detained and was allowed to sail at the request of the Cambodian government and the intervention of lawyers, the IMO and the Bahamas Maritime Authority.

The company stressed that it was “worried” about the safety of its crew as the Cambodian Government is making “wrongful allegations” alleging that the crew committed criminal offences in relation to the vessel’s departure from the Apsara field to refuel. And now the Bangladeshi Captain of the tanker is being accused of anchoring a ship in Indonesian territory without permission. 

“The vessel has been wrongly charged with stealing the cargo. It is not and has never at any time been our intention to misappropriate the cargo,” World Tankers Management’s statement read. “Our crew are entirely innocent and blameless in this matter and should not come to bear the brunt of commercial and political issues,” it added. 

(With Inputs from AP)