Mumbai, Feb 20 (PTI) One of the three vessels caught some 100 nautical miles off Mumbai in an Indian Coast Guard operation earlier this month had spent eight days in Pakistani waters and had engaged in suspicious activities by switching off its Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Very High Frequency (VHF) sensors, as per the FIR registered in this regard.
Vessels MT Asphalt Star, Al Jafzia and MT Steller Ruby were intercepted by the Indian Coast Guard in a mid-sea operation on February 5-6 for involvement in illegal ship-to-ship fuel and bitumen transfers without informing Indian authorities.
The probe had found that 30 metric tonnes of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) and 5,473 metric tonnes of bitumen (VG-40) were transferred from MT Asphalt Star to Al Jafzia and Steller Ruby in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of India using fake documents.
The ICG probe also revealed that MT Asphalt Star was in Pakistani waters between January 20 and 28. On January 28, the vessel indulged in suspicious activities by switching off all its Automatic Identifications System (AIS) and Very High Frequency (VHF) sensors for almost 11 hours, as per the Mumbai police FIR.
All the three vessels were involved in a conspiracy to hide their identity through AIS spoofing for illicit trade, it added.
MT Steller Ruby entered Karwar Port (Karnataka) using forged certificates, whereas MT Al Jafzia used fake documents to enter Alang ship-breaking yard in Gujarat, it said.
The FIR was registered on the complaint of an ICG commandant and has named Shyam Bahadur Chouhan, Navjyot Chalotra, Gopal Das, Ravi Kumar, Gyna Chandra Gupta, Munwar Khalphe, Shivkumar Sharma, Nasaruddin Mandal and Jogender Singh Brar as accused. These persons were on these vessels along with crew, officials said.
According to the Indian Coast Guard commandant’s complaint, the force spotted Mali-flagged tanker MT Asphalt Star, which was stationary and was changing its identity repeatedly during electronic survey, following which an ICG vessel reached it in the early hours of February 5.
As per the complaint, the crew, on being interrogated, claimed they were heading towards Mangaluru in Karnataka.
Further probe into the case is underway, as per police. PTI DC BNM
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