Sweden Detains Tanker Jin Hui in Baltic Sea, Cites False Flag and Sanctions Concerns

Swedish authorities boarded and detained the tanker Jin Hui on Sunday on suspicion of flying a false flag while transiting Swedish waters in the Baltic Sea under a Syrian flag, the Swedish Coast Guard said. The vessel remained anchored off Trelleborg on Monday.

And Ukraine sanctions lists, Sweden's Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin wrote on X. Sweden is investigating the Jin Hui as a tanker suspected of being part of the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet, Bohlin said. Abc News reported that the ship's captain, a Chinese citizen, was arrested on suspicion of using a false document and other offenses, according to Swedish prosecutors.

The Jin Hui seizure is the fifth vessel seizure by Sweden's coast guard in recent weeks. Daniel Stenling, deputy chief of operations at the coast guard, said ships with suspected deficiencies in their seaworthiness continue to sail in Swedish waters. "This is not acceptable.

We have intervened before, now we are intervening again," Stenling said. Russia's embassy in Sweden did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Sweden said last year it would step up insurance checks on foreign ships in a move aimed at tightening controls on Russian vessels suspected of transporting oil and gas or carrying stolen Ukrainian grain.

Concerns about the Jin Hui also included its seaworthiness. The coast guard's intervention marked the latest in a series of actions against vessels operating in Swedish waters that officials view as posing risks both from sanctions evasion and safety shortcomings.