(Reuters) — Coast Guard officials allied to Libya’s self-declared government in Tripoli said on Wednesday (September 16) they captured a Russian-flagged oil tanker and their Russian crew trying to smuggle oil from the port of Zawara.
Coast guard official Tawfiq Mohammed said that the tanker was captured when it tried to smuggle oil out of the country
“We identified the location of the tanker which was about 15 miles outside of Zawara. It’s a Russian ship and was flying a Russian flag and has a crew of 11, 10 men and one woman, all of them Russians,” said Tawfiq Mohammed.
Libya is caught up in a conflict between two rival governments — one internationally recognized and the other self-declared after its forces took over Tripoli last year — and both are backed by loose coalitions of armed groups who helped oust Muammar Gaddafi four years ago.
There was no immediate comment from the internationally recognized government.
Oil ports and fields are often caught up in the conflict for control of assets in the North African OPEC state. The United Nations is trying to negotiate an end to the conflict between the two factions and form a united government.
