Reuters on July 11 quoted an announcement from the Indonesian Coast Guard saying that the agency had seized an Iranian-flagged supertanker suspected of illegally transporting crude oil last week.
According to Indonesian authorities, at the time of the seizure, the Iranian supertanker MT Arman 114 was carrying 272,569 tons of light crude oil, worth 4.6 trillion rupiah (more than 7 trillion VND). The Iranian ship is suspected of transferring oil to the Cameroon-flagged MT S Tinos without a license on July 7, according to Bloomberg.
Both ships attempted to flee when discovered. However, Indonesian authorities, with assistance from Malaysia, captured Arman.
Iran-flagged oil tanker MT Arman 114 was found transferring oil to Cameroon-flagged MT S Tinos without a license.
Vice Admiral Aan Kurnia, commander of the Indonesian Coast Guard, said the MT Arman was detained in Indonesia's North Natuna Sea. "MT Arman spoofed its automatic identification system (AIS) to signal that it was in the Red Sea (an inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia), but it was actually here. So it seems like the ship had bad intentions," Aan said, adding that the ship had also dumped oil into the sea, violating Indonesia's environmental laws.
In addition to seizing the ship, Indonesian authorities have also detained the Egyptian captain, 28 crew members and three passengers, including the family of a security guard on board. The ship's operators have not commented on the incident.
Vice Admiral Aan pledged that the Indonesian coast guard, with the support of other agencies, would increase patrols in the country's waters. Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago nation with about 17,000 islands.
In 2021, Indonesia seized Iranian and Panama-flagged ships on similar charges. The captains of both ships were placed on two years probation by an Indonesian court.
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