French authorities are investigating the Benin-flagged oil tanker Boracay, announces the prosecutor in Brest in western France. The investigation was initiated after a report from the French navy.
The vessel, which is now anchored off the French port city of Saint-Nazaire, is suspected of being part of the Russian so-called shadow fleet – aged oil tankers that Russia uses to circumvent Western sanctions. The tanker left the Russian Primorsk on September 20, then with the Indian Vadinar as its official destination.
According to the specialist site The Maritime Executive, Boracay is linked to the drone flights over Denmark in recent weeks, which have forced several airports to close and prompted Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to state that Denmark is exposed to a hybrid war.
The oil tanker – and several other vessels – may, according to the site, have been used either as a launch platform for the drones or as bait.
French President Emmanuel Macron does not want to comment on the connection between Boracay and the drones in Denmark, but confirms in connection with today's EU meeting in Copenhagen that the vessel is being investigated.
The ongoing investigation is based on the crew's "inability to justify the ship's nationality" and their refusal to cooperate, says Brest prosecutor Stéphane Kellenberger to AFP.
