Asphalt Star tanker
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: One of the three US-sanctioned Iran-linked oil tankers seized by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Feb 6 off the country’s coast had spent days inside Pakistan’s maritime boundary with its tracking systems switched off, according to an FIR registered in Mumbai.The ICG had seized three ships — Asphalt Star, Stellar Ruby and Al Jafzia — around 100 nautical miles west of Mumbai for investigation and lodged a police complaint on Feb 15 at the Yellow Gate police station against nine persons, including the owner of the three ships for alleged illegal activities and smuggling oil linked to Iran. There were 55 crew members on board all three seized vessels.Based on the complaint of Aniruddha Dharampal Dabash (40), an ICG commandant, Mumbai police filed an FIR and arrested the captain of MT Asphalt Star and a crew member for their alleged role in oil smuggling and forgery. TOI has the copy of the FIR.On the ship’s presence in the Pakistan maritime zone, the FIR said, “Electronic chart display & information system data of MT Asphalt Star was examined by Coast Guard Officer assistant commandant P Siddharth Ratnam. It was observed that between Jan 20 and Jan 28, the vessel had entered Pakistan’s maritime exclusive economic zone (EEZ).”“On Jan 28, at approximately 11 hours, the vessel had switched off its automatic identification system (AIS), very high frequency (VHF) and all sensors, thereby concealing its identity and carrying out suspicious movements. Upon further questioning, the master stated that the ship’s voyage data recorder (VDR) system had stopped functioning,” it said. All three ships used AIS spoofing and false identity data to evade detection.Jogendar Singh Brar, an Indian national who is currently based in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and is said to be the owner of the ships, is named as one of the accused in the FIR.Through sustained rummaging, corroboration of electronic data on board suspect vessels and verification documents and interrogation of crew, the ICG specialist boarding team established the modus operandi of criminals.“We have arrested Shyam Bahadur Chauhan and one more person in this case. They were produced before a court and sent in police custody till Feb 23,” said a police officer. Chauhan is the master of MT Asphalt Star. In the UAE, Brar claimed that his ships were providing essential supplies to other ships in distress far from the Indian coast and that the ships were not engaged in any illegal activity, say local media reports.The FIR stated that MT Asphalt Star was found to have illegally transferred 30 metric tonnes of heavy fuel oil to MT AL Jafiza in the EEZ of the Indian Ocean by conducting ship to ship operation without informing any Indian govt authorities. It was also found to have illegally transferred 5473 metric tonnes of Bitumen used for road construction to MT stellar Ruby.
