The Indian Coast Guard detained three tankers approximately 100 nautical miles from Mumbai on suspicion of oil smuggling. This was reported by the Times of India on February 7.
According to the publication, the detained vessels may have been involved in the illegal transfer of oil and petroleum products coming from conflict regions. It is believed that a "ship-to-ship" transfer scheme was used in international waters to avoid paying customs duties to coastal states, including India.
The operation to detain the vessels was carried out based on intelligence data collected using modern technologies. Specialized teams conducted extensive inspections on all three vessels after their interception.
