Maritime oil smuggling syndicate exposed: Coast Guard intercepts 3 vessels near Mumbai India News

New Delhi: indian coast guard The ICG on Friday intercepted three vessels about 100 nautical miles west of Mumbai, disrupting an international oil smuggling racket in a coordinated mid-sea operation on February 5-6.The operation was carried out following intelligence gathering through technology-supported maritime surveillance. According to the Coast Guard, these vessels are involved in the illegal transshipment of oil and oil-based cargo from conflict zones, using mid-sea ship-to-ship transfers in international waters to evade customs duties levied on coastal countries, including India.The Indian Coast Guard shared the details in a post on X, saying the operation was the result of a “well-coordinated sea and air operation.” The group “exploited mid-sea transshipments in international waters to move cheap oil from conflict zones to motorized tankers and evade tariffs on coastal countries,” the report said.Explaining the course of the operation, ICG said its technology-driven systems first detected a motor tanker exhibiting suspicious behavior within India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).This led to a digital investigation and analysis of data patterns, which revealed that two other vessels had converged on the tanker, raising suspicions of illegal oil transfers at sea.According to the Coast Guard, specialist boarding teams intercepted the three vessels and an ongoing search operation was conducted. “Electronic data corroboration, document verification and interrogation of the crew exposed the modus operandi and global processing network,” the ICG said in its post.Preliminary investigations revealed that the vessels frequently changed their identities to evade law enforcement by coastal states. The Coast Guard said the fraud ring was run by a network of handlers from multiple countries that coordinated the sale and transfer of oil cargo between seagoing vessels.The intercepted vessel is being escorted to Mumbai for further investigation and will be handed over to Indian Customs and other law enforcement agencies for legal action.Describing the broader significance of the operation, the Coast Guard said the strike strengthened India’s role as a “cyber provider of maritime security and guardian of the rules-based international order” in the region.