In Sweden, the captain of a vessel linked to Russia's shadow fleet was released
Kyiv • UNN
The Swedish prosecutor's office dropped charges against the captain due to lack of evidence of document forgery. The vessel was suspected of transporting stolen Ukrainian grain.
Swedish authorities have released a Russian cargo ship captain from custody, who was suspected of belonging to Russia's so-called shadow fleet. This was reported by the BBC, writes UNN.
Details
The vessel in question is the Caffa, which was detained by Swedish police in early March. According to the investigation, it was sailing under the flag of Guinea to St. Petersburg. Authorities suspected that the vessel could have been transporting stolen Ukrainian grain and was being used to circumvent sanctions.
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The captain was held in custody for about six weeks, but the prosecutor's office decided to release him and drop the charges.
Prosecutor's decision
Among the previously brought charges were document forgery and violations of maritime law. However, after reviewing the appeal, the investigation concluded that there was insufficient evidence.
The accused filed an appeal, claiming that he was unaware that the documents were forged. After a thorough investigation, I concluded that this appeal cannot be refuted.
According to the investigation, the Caffa could have been part of Russia's so-called shadow fleet – a network of old vessels used under foreign flags and with falsified documents to circumvent international restrictions.