Overview
- British Royal Marine commandos and specially trained National Crime Agency officers boarded the Cameroon‑flagged tanker Smyrtos in a six‑hour operation on Sunday, detaining the ship in the English Channel.
- The operation used helicopters, a P‑8 patrol aircraft and two Royal Navy ships, with footage showing commandos fast‑roping from a Chinook and NCA officers inspecting the vessel’s paperwork.
- The government says the boarding was authorised in March and carried out under international maritime law, citing Article 110 of UNCLOS and UK sanctions and enforcement statutes, and it was coordinated with France.
- Smyrtos has been moved to an anchorage off England’s south coast for monitoring and investigation, with officials checking for environmental or safety risks and no public decision yet on the crew’s status.
- The seizure targets the so‑called shadow fleet of ageing, opaque tankers that move most of Russia’s sanctioned oil; the UK has sanctioned nearly 600 such vessels and says the measures have cut Moscow’s oil revenue.