Coalition Forces Return Smuggled Iraqi Oil
Navy Newsstand
Story Number: NNS030812-01
Release Date: 8/12/2003 8:58:00 AM
By Lt. Garrett Kasper, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, 5th Fleet Public Affairs
MANAMA, Bahrain (NNS) -- Coalition Multinational Interception Forces (MIF) returned 1,100 metric tons of oil to its rightful owners - the citizens of Iraq - Aug. 12. U.S. Navy Sailors, Coast Guardsmen and their coalition partners, were the linchpin in intercepting and diverting a tanker smuggling oil.
Royal Marines from HMS Sutherland, under the direction of Task Force 55, intercepted the 12,000-ton Panamanian-flagged merchant tanker Navstar-1 and directed it to anchor in the Khor Abd Allah waterway Aug. 5. Royal Marine commandos found crude oil on the tanker Aug. 6, but found no written authorization from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) for Navstar-1 to be carrying oil.
The Iraqi CPA asked the Royal Navy frigate to divert the Dubai-based ship to Umm Qasr so that the illegal oil could be returned. After the ship ignored three notifications by Sutherland to return to Umm Qasr, the Royal Marines boarded the vessel Aug. 8, and detained the ship's master and crew. Navstar-1 was immediately turned over to a 20-member crew from USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG 60), who sailed it back to Umm Qasr Aug. 10, under escort by U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Wrangell (WPB 1332).
The 147-meter long NAVSTAR-1 and its crew were arrested the morning of Aug. 12, when the ship docked in Umm Qasr.
Rodney M. Davis, Wrangell and Sutherland are under the operational control of Commander, Naval Forces Central Command's Task Force 55 and operate in the North Arabian Gulf. They are conducting Operation Iraqi Freedom maritime interception operations to ensure that international law is maintained on the Iraqi coast under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1483.
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