TRIPOLI, Libya (AFP) — The Libyan navy said Monday it has seized an oil tanker near the maritime border with Tunisia and detained the 20-member Filipino crew on suspicion of fuel smuggling.
Navy spokesman General Ayoub Kacem said the vessel was intercepted on Sunday off Abu Kamash, 170 kilometers (110 miles) west of Tripoli, and its crew transported to the capital to appear before the prosecutor general.
The Liberian-flagged tanker belonging to a Greek company was loaded with six million liters (1.5 million gallons) of contraband fuel, he said.
Plunged into conflict and political chaos since a 2011 revolution that ousted and killed Libya’s longtime leader Colonel Moamer Kadhafi, oil smuggling to Tunisia, Malta and Tunisia has become a lucrative trade.
