Somali fuel-smuggling tanker seized by IRGC

Naval forces of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) have intercepted and impounded a Somali tanker smuggling 500,000 liters of diesel fuel to a Persian Gulf Arab state.

According to Press TV, the tanker was stopped by an IRGC patrol 18 miles off the Persian Gulf island of Qeshm in the Strait of Hormuz, which is a strategic route for oil transit, Fars news agency reported on Wednesday.

The tanker had reportedly picked up the diesel fuel from small vessels selling smuggled fuel in the Persian Gulf waters.

IRGC forces also arrested 13 Somali crew members aboard the tanker and handed them over to judicial authorities in the southern Hormuzgan Province.