Tanker Ship MT Strovolos Arrested by the Indonesian Navy, It is Allegedly Stealing 300 Thousand Barrels of Crude Oil in Cambodia.
A Bahamas-flagged tanker, MT Strovolos, has reportedly been detained by the Indonesian Navy after receiving information from Interpol regarding the theft of nearly 300,000 barrels of crude oil in Cambodia.
According to the information from the Commander of the First Commando Armada, Admiral TNI Arsyad Abdullah, his party has received a diplomatic red notice from the Cambodian government through its embassy in Indonesia on July 24. It contained a plea for support to arrest MT Strovolos who was suspected of stealing 300,000 barrels of crude oil from Cambodia.
The Indonesian Navy deployed KRI John Lie-358 to intercept MT Strovolos in the Anambas Islands, Riau Islands. The ship was detained because it had violated the territorial area by turning off the automatic identification system (AIS).
At that time, the ship was said to have sailed from Thailand to Batam. The ship also anchors without permission in the Indonesian territory.
"From the identification process, 19 crew members were found, including 13 Indians, 3 Bangladeshis, and 3 Burmese. For the captain of the ship himself is a Burmese."
They were detained and taken to the Batam Island port for investigation.
"The case has been handed over by Indonesian Navy investigators to the Batam Prosecutor's Office," said Arsyad, as quoted by AFP.
The captain of the ship has now been named a suspect, with a threat of one year in prison or a fine of IDR 200 million if found guilty.
"The Navy will not hesitate to take action against all forms of violations that occur in waters within Indonesia's national jurisdiction," added Arsyad.
From an AFP report, the MT Strovolus is a vessel chartered by a Singapore-based oil and gas company, KrisEnergy. The company had filed for liquidation in June but was unable to pay the tanker crew.
“The company reported to our government that the tanker was stealing oil. There are about 290,000 barrels of crude oil on board," said Cheap Suor, Director General of Petroleum at the Cambodian Ministry of Mines and Energy.