Ukrainian Navy seizes foreign ship carrying cargo of contraband cigarettes in the Black Sea
The Ukrainian military opened fire during an operation to detain a foreign ship accused of smuggling in the Black Sea, the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on Facebook on January 1.
"After ascertaining the futility of an attempted escape from the Ukrainian military boat, the vessel made contact and was questioned according to the procedures established by international maritime law. However, the violating vessel did not comply with the request to stop. In order to force an end to the illegal activities, a Prylyuky-class missile boat sent a warning shot from the artillery system across the bow of the vessel; [the ship then] stopped and was escorted to the port of Odessa," the report said.
The military noted that "the suppression of the illegal activities of the foreign ship in Ukraine’s territorial waters was carried out with the support of the Akkerman and Berdyansk armored artillery boats, which had an inspection team on board, as well as maritime security boats from Ukraine's border guard [carrying] representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine on board."
The State Border Service of Ukraine reported earlier that a foreign ship carrying a large batch of tobacco products was detained on December 31 in the Black Sea.
"Based on the results of the inspection, 1,737 boxes of cigarettes without excise stamps were found on the ship. Documents for the cargo were absent. In addition, it was found that two of the 11 crew members did not have seafarers' passports," the report said.
The dry cargo vessel, which was flying the flag of Tanzania, was following a route from Ochamchire, Georgia (in the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia) to Varna, Bulgaria. After being detained, the ship was escorted to the port of Odessa by Ukrainian Navy ships.