On Sunday the Italian Navy intercepted the Toa Payoh a tanker sailing under the flag of Cameroon
A warship from the EU’s naval mission in the Mediterranean, Operation Irini, boarded on Sunday a sanctioned tanker linked to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” as part of a verification operation west of the Italian island of Pantelleria.
The Italian Navy’s vessel Thaon di Revel, an offshore patrol vessel that serves as the flagship of the EU’s Operation IRINI, intercepted the Toa Payoh, a tanker sailing under the flag of Cameroon subject to EU sanctions, after it departed the port of Cotonou in Benin on 16 July en route to Istanbul, Italy’s defence ministry said.
Italian authorities said the ship’s captain initially refused to provide the requested cooperation. An Italian boarding team was subsequently deployed by helicopter from the Thaon di Revel to carry out the inspection.
The operation, supported by a Greek naval vessel and a Polish maritime patrol aircraft, lasted around two hours and concluded without incident.
