The Hellenic Coast Guard seized the Tanzania-flagged cargo ship ‘Andromeda’, after it found 29 containers with explosives, detonators and other equipment in Greek waters. The ship was sailing in the sea area of the southern island of Crete, was also carrying eleven LPG tanks, that upon investigation, were found empty.
According to ship’s bills of lading, the containers were loaded from the port of Mersin Turkey with a Djibouti landing port , while the LPG tanks from the port of Iscende Turkey with a port of landing Oman.
However, during the preliminary investigation, it was revealed that the master of the ship was instructed by his owner to go to the port of Misouratas in Libya, in order to unload and deliver the entire cargo something that is opposed to EU rules, forbidding the export to Libya of goods that could be used for internal repression, such as explosives and related equipment.
In addition, a relevant log record was found in the ship’s logbook on 18 December, while no ship maps were found on the ship for the Djibouti and Oman areas.
As a result, following a mandate from the Prosecutor of the First Instance of Piraeus, the crew, including two Ukrainians, five Indians and one Albanian nationals, were arrested and will be brought to custody.
At the same time, a ship inspection was carried out revealing a total of one hundred two serious observations / omissions regarding the vessel’s airworthiness, that “endangered the safety of the ship, the crew and cargo”.
This cargo as well as the ship in question were seized.