</s>Freighter Arrested for Smuggling Explosives

By The Maritime Executive 2018-01-10 15:53:33

The Hellenic Coast Guard has seized the cargo ship Andromeda after finding 29 containers of ammonium nitrate and detonators on board, along with 11 empty LPG tanks.

The cargo was loaded in Mersin and Iskenderum, Turkey, and its bill of lading indicated that it was bound for Djibouti and Oman. However, the coast guard investigators allege that the vessel had orders to sail to Misrata, Libya to offload the shipment. The European Union forbids the transfer or sale to Libyan entities of goods that could be used for internal repression, including explosives and related equipment. Ammonium nitrate is the primary ingredient in a common commercial explosive, and it can be used for a variety of purposes - including acts of terrorism, according to Hellenic Coast Guard Rear Adm. Ioannis Argiriou.

On January 8, the Andromeda was sailing near Agios Nikolaos, Crete, when she was boarded by the Hellenic Coast Guard for an inspection. The authorities ordered her to enter port at Heraklion, where investigators unloaded her cargo and carried out a thorough search. The goods and the vessel have been seized, and eight of the vessel's crewmembers - five Indian nationals, two Ukrainians and one Albanian - have been arrested and transferred to police custody.

The Andromeda is flagged in Tanzania and operated by a firm in Athens. She was temporarily banned from Greek ports last year after a series of port state control detentions. The most recent found 36 deficiencies, including cracked decks, missing stability documentation, unmaintained safety systems and an absence of emergency drills, and it resulted in a 20-day detention near Athens. A previous inspection in Sfax, Tunisia found inoperable lifeboats, expired ISM documentation, missing records for drills, and an improperly kept oil record book, resulting in a three-day detention. When Andromeda was ordered to enter Heraklion, port state control inspectors found a total of 102 safety deficiencies, in addition to the cargo of explosive materials.</s>ATHENS, Greece — Greek authorities say they have impounded a Tanzanian-flagged freighter and arrested its crew for allegedly carrying explosives to Libya in breach of an international ban.

The Merchant Marine Ministry says the Andromeda was stopped off the southern Greek island of Crete over the weekend following a tip and escorted to a Cretan port for an inspection.

It was found to be carrying 29 shipping containers of explosives and detonators, which according to the ship’s papers had been loaded in Turkey and were destined for the east African port of Djibouti.

However, a ministry statement Wednesday said the ship’s owner later ordered the captain to change course and take the cargo to the Libyan port of Misrata.

The arrested crew members were identified as five Indians, two Ukrainians and an Albanian.</s>Greek authorities have seized a Tanzanian-flagged ship heading for Libya and carrying materials used to make explosives, the coastguard said on Wednesday.

The vessel was detected sailing near the Greek island of Crete on Saturday. Authorities found 29 containers carrying materials including ammonium nitrate, non-electric detonators and 11 empty liquefied petroleum gas tanks.

“The materials were headed to Libya,” Rear Admiral Ioannis Argiriou told reporters. He said the material could be used “for all sorts of work, from work in quarries to making bombs and acts of terrorism”.

This is the second Tanzanian – flagged ship that is falling foul of the law in recent weeks after another vessel was intercepted by Dutch Naval forces. 1,600 kilos of cocaine were found on the ship.

European Union and United Nations-imposed arms embargoes have prohibited the sale, supply or transfer of arms to Libya since 2011.

According to the ship’s bill of lading, the cargo had been loaded in the Turkish ports of Mersin and Iskenderum and was destined for Djibouti and Oman.

But the coastguard said a preliminary investigation found the captain had been ordered by the vessel’s owner to sail to the Libyan city of Misrata to unload and deliver the entire cargo.

No shipping maps were found on the ship’s logbook for the Djibouti and Oman areas, the coastguard said.

The eight-member crew has been arrested and are expected to appear before a prosecutor.</s>The material could be used for all sorts of work, from work in quarries to making bombs & acts of terrorism

Authorities have seized a Tanzanian-flagged ship heading for Libya and carrying materials used to make explosives, according to the Greek coastguard.

The vessel “Andromeda” was detected sailing near Aghios Nikolaos, on the island of Crete on Saturday. Authorities found 29 containers carrying materials including ammonium nitrate, non-electric detonators and 11 empty liquefied petroleum gas tanks.

“The materials were headed to Libya,” Rear Admiral Ioannis Argiriou told reporters. He said the material could be used “for all sorts of work, from work in quarries to making bombs, and acts of terrorism”.

According to the ship’s bill of lading, the cargo had been loaded in the Turkish ports of Mersin and Iskenderum and was destined for Djibouti and Oman.

But the coastguard said a preliminary investigation found the captain had been ordered by the vessel’s owner to sail to the Libyan city of Misrata to unload and deliver the entire cargo.

The ship’s cargo was seized and the ship was led to Heraklion port, outside the island’s capital, where a preliminary review proved 102 serious violations of the safety code endangering the lives of the ship’s crew.

European Union and United Nations-imposed arms embargoes have prohibited the sale, supply or transfer of arms to Libya since 2011.

No shipping maps were found on the ship’s logbook for the Djibouti and Oman areas, the coastguard said.</s>Greek coast guard officers have impounded a cargo vessel that had been en route to Libya with tons of arms and explosives after intercepting it off the Cretan port of Iraklio, officials said on Wednesday.

The Tanzania-flagged Andromeda had been heading from Turkey to Libya when it was stopped on Sunday, officers said. It had been stacked with 29 containers full of explosives and detonators.

The materials on board included a large quantity of the explosive agent ammonium nitrate and 11 empty liquefied petroleum gas tanks.

According to the ship’s bill of lading, the cargo had been loaded in the Turkish ports of Mersin and Iskenderun and had been destined for Djibouti and Oman.

But, according to Hellenic Coast Guard sources, the captain claimed to have been instructed by the ship’s owner to take the cargo to the Libyan city of Misrata.

The crew, comprising two Ukrainian nationals, five Indians and one Albanian, were detained and are to appear before a prosecutor on Thursday.

Coast guard officials underlined the significance of the interception.

“The coast guard neutralized a moving time bomb that could have had unpredictable consequences both for people and for the marine environment,” rear admiral Yiannis Argyriou, who heads the coast guard’s security and policing department, told reporters.

The materials could have been destined for a range of purposes from quarrying to bomb making, he said.

European Union and United Nations embargoes have prohibited the supply of arms to Libya since 2011.</s>ATHENS, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Greek authorities have seized a Tanzanian-flagged ship heading for Libya and carrying materials used to make explosives, the coastguard said on Wednesday.

The vessel was detected sailing near the Greek island of Crete on Saturday. Authorities found 29 containers carrying materials including ammonium nitrate, non-electric detonators and 11 empty liquefied petroleum gas tanks.

"The materials were headed to Libya," Rear Admiral Ioannis Argiriou told reporters. He said the material could be used "for all sorts of work, from work in quarries to making bombs and acts of terrorism".

European Union and United Nations-imposed arms embargoes have prohibited the sale, supply or transfer of arms to Libya since 2011.

According to the ship's bill of lading, the cargo had been loaded in the Turkish ports of Mersin and Iskenderum and was destined for Djibouti and Oman.

But the coastguard said a preliminary investigation found the captain had been ordered by the vessel's owner to sail to the Libyan city of Misrata to unload and deliver the entire cargo.

No shipping maps were found on the ship's logbook for the Djibouti and Oman areas, the coastguard said.

The eight-member crew has been arrested and will appear before a prosecutor on Thursday. (Reporting by Karolina Tagaris; editing by Andrew Roche)</s>Greek authorities have seized a Tanzanian-flagged ship heading for Libya and carrying materials, which have been loaded in Turkey’s İskenderun and Mersin ports, used to make explosives, the Greek coastguards said on Wednesday.

According to a report by Reuters, the vessel was detected sailing near the Greek island of Crete on Saturday. Authorities found 29 containers carrying materials including ammonium nitrate, non-electric detonators and 11 empty liquefied petroleum gas tanks. “The materials were headed to Libya,” Rear Admiral Ioannis Argiriou told reporters. He said the material could be used “for all sorts of work, from work in quarries to making bombs and acts of terrorism.”

European Union and United Nations-imposed arms embargoes have prohibited the sale, supply or transfer of arms to Libya since 2011. According to the ship’s bill of lading, the cargo had been loaded in the Turkish ports of Mersin and İskenderum and was destined for Djibouti and Oman.

But the Greek coastguard said a preliminary investigation found the captain had been ordered by the vessel’s owner to sail to the Libyan city of Misrata to unload and deliver the entire cargo. No shipping maps were found on the ship’s logbook for the Djibouti and Oman areas, the coastguard said. The eight-member crew has been arrested and will appear before a prosecutor on Thursday.

On September 2017, the Tin-Can Island Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) busted syndicates that smuggled weapons into Nigeria in containers containing guns from Turkey and apprehended weapons and ammunition two times within two weeks. Nigerian customs had said the guns were found in a 20-foot container marked No. CMAU189817/8.

The statement quoted Col. Hammed Ali, the comptroller-general, as narrating how the terminal operator quarantined the flagged container for stricter analysis. “It was transferred to the enforcement unit, where 100 percent examination revealed 470 pump action rifles as against elbow plumbing plastics on its bill of lading,” it said.

“Importer of this deadly cargo is Great James Oil and Gas Ltd, while the vessel is MV Arkas Africa owned by Hull Blyth. This discovery brings to a total of 2,671 rifles seized within the last eight months of this year,” said the statement. “Since this container belongs to the same importer of the 1,100 rifles, the ongoing investigation will be reinvigorated to fish out all those directly or remotely connected with these dangerous importers,” it added.

A top Nigerian official had also met with the Turkish ambassador to Nigeria after a container containing hundreds of guns from Turkey was confiscated. The Nigerian media had reported that this was the fourth time in a year that illegal arms shipments from Turkey were seized by customs officers in Nigeria. Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, said 2,671 rifles had been imported from Turkey since January.

“The government is worried about the incessant importation of arms from Turkey. This year alone, four shipments have come from that country,” customs spokesman Joseph Attah had told AFP. According to Attah, 470 rifles were seized on Tuesday less than two weeks after operatives of the Tin-Can Island Command of NCS busted a syndicate that smuggled over 1,100 weapons into Nigeria.

“We have found out that the people bringing in these weapons are Nigerians. They have syndicates in Turkey who are manifesting these weapons,” Atah said and added that “We are yet to get to the bottom of the whole issue. We will investigate to know if these weapons are meant for commercial purposes or group of insurgents or agitators.”

In January 2014, a number of trucks that were found to belong to MİT were stopped by Turkish gendarmes in two separate incidents in the southern provinces of Hatay and Adana, after prosecutors received tips that they were carrying arms to Syria.

Although the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has claimed that the trucks were transporting humanitarian aid to the Turkmen community in Syria, opposition voices have continued to question why, if the operation was within the law, the government intervened to prevent the trucks from being searched.

Cumhuriyet daily had reported in May 2015 that trucks allegedly owned by the National Intelligence Organisation (MİT) were found to contain weapons and ammunition that were headed for Syria when they were stopped and searched in southern Turkey in early 2014.

When the MİT truck story first broke in 2015, it produced a political firestorm in Turkey about the role of the Turkish spy agency in arming rebel factions in Syria and prompted an investigation into Cumhuriyet daily journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, who published the report.

Also in 2014, Turkish Airlines attracted attention after a voice recording surfaced, allegedly a phone conversation between a senior Turkish Airlines (THY) official and one of then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s advisers.

“Lots of material is on its way to Nigeria right now. Is it going to kill Muslims or Christians? I am sinning right now, you should know,” one voice, purportedly that of the THY official, says.

The voice supposedly of Erdoğan’s adviser says he would contact with MİT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan. Turkish Airlines denied carrying weapons and military equipment to Nigeria.</s>Cypriot authorities on Thursday gave reassurances they had taken all legal and safety precautions when a cargo ship carrying 410 tons of explosives that was seized by Greek authorities on Wednesday approached the island’s ports last month seeking assistance for a sick crew member.

According to the Greek news portal Protothema, the Andromeda, flying the flag of Tanzania, was spotted by the Greek authorities off the island of Crete last weekend and following a check of its cargo on Wednesday, it was discovered to be carrying 29 containers of explosives and detonators to Libya, which is currently under arms embargo.

It reportedly set off from the Turkish port of Iskenderun.

The eight-member crew was arrested and the ship and its cargo were confiscated by the Greek authorities and are currently at the port of Heraklion, Crete.

Manager of Coasters Maritime – the company owning the vessel – Theodoros Rellos warned local authorities through a message sent to a Cretan media outlet of a disaster similar to that of the Mari blast in Cyprus in 2011 unless measures are taken for the safe keeping of the explosives.

Rellos said that storing 410,000 kilos of dynamite in a passenger port not experienced with the storage of dangerous materials was risky.

“You realise that if an accident were to occur, half of Heraklion will turn into the Sahara Desert. Remember the Mari case in Cyprus in 2011,” Rellos said.

He also said the vessel was due to unload the cargo in Ethiopia but that the Turkish charterers refused to pay the toll of the Suez Canal thus the Andromeda has been left wandering the eastern Mediterranean carrying the dangerous cargo since November 25 without any country allowing it to enter its ports due to its dangerous cargo.

The ship’s captain, however, reportedly told Greek authorities he had been instructed by the company to sail and unload the cargo at the Libyan port of Misurata.

Cypriot authorities, following reports that the Andromeda entered Cypriot ports twice last month, that of Larnaca and Limassol, said the vessel was allowed instead to stop at the anchorages of the two ports for humanitarian reasons. The cargo ship, authorities said, did not enter Cypriot ports.

Cyprus Ports Authority Deputy Director General Anthi Cleridou told state broadcaster CyBC that the Cypriot authorities had been asked to allow the vessel to enter its ports as one crew member was suspected of suffering a heart attack.

“We followed all legal actions and took all measures to avoid any risks,” Cleridou said.

She added that the CPA knew of the dangerous cargo of the vessel and immediately informed the European committee in charge of such cases. Following instructions from the deportment of merchant shipping, she said, the CPA allowed the vessel to enter Larnaca port’s anchorage on December 4 for the sick crew member to disembark and two days later they also allowed the ship to stop at Limassol port’s anchorage to pick up the crew member and to refuel.

Anchorages, she said, are safe zones used in such cases, for vessels carrying dangerous materials and they are far from ports, beaches and residential areas.

The Andromeda, Cleridou said, was allowed to stop there solely for humanitarian reasons and the CPA took all legal measures provided internationally.

She added that they had informed “everyone that it was carrying 400 tons of explosives”.</s>Greek authorities have seized a Tanzanian-flagged ship heading for Libya and carrying materials used to make explosives, the coastguard said on Wednesday.

The vessel, which has set off from Turkey,was carrying 29 containers with detonators, ammonium nitrate and special gel, all materials that can be used in building bombs.

The "Andromeda" was intercepted off the coast of the Greek island of Crete and has been impounded in the port of Heraklion.

All eight members of the crew were arrested.

Officially, Jibouti and Oman were the ship's destinations, however there were no naval maps on board. During preliminary investigation by the Greek coast guard, the ship's captain stated that he received an order by the vessel's owner to unload and hand over the explosives in Misrata, Libya.

European Union and United Nations-imposed arms embargoes have prohibited the sale, supply or transfer of arms to Libya since 2011.
The Hellenic Coast Guard seizes the Tanzanian-flagged cargo ship Andromeda – allegedly bound for Libya, loaded with 410 tonnes of explosives – in Heraklion, Greece. 102 safety deficiencies are found, and 8 crew members are arrested.