Oil smuggling from Tunisia/Six people arrested, five under investigation and two wanted

2025-01-14 09:10:00, Kronika CNA

Oil smuggling from Tunisia/Six people arrested, five under investigation and two

Within 24 hours, another police operation against the smuggling of very large quantities of oil from Tunisia is finalized.

Operation "Black Gold 2", 400,000 liters of oil and the ship in whose ballast this quantity was hidden, for the purpose of smuggling, are seized.

6 citizens in handcuffs and 5 under investigation, Syrian, Egyptian and Albanian, members of the ship's crew.
The 2 suspected organizers of the case are declared wanted.

•Yesterday, during Operation "Black Gold", 670,000 liters of smuggled oil were seized in the same manner, and 10 citizens implicated in the case were identified.

Following police actions, with the aim of cracking down on cases of smuggling of very large quantities of oil from Tunisia by ship, the Economic and Financial Crimes Investigation Section of the Durrës DVP, the Anti-Smuggling and Operational Support Section of the Durrës DVP, the Directorate for the Investigation of Economic and Financial Crimes of the DPPSh, the Border and Migration Directorate of Durrës, the Guardia di Finanza Durrës, and the Durrës Customs Branch, finalized the police operation codenamed "Black Gold 2".

During the operation, Syrian citizens MS, 56 years old, the ship's captain, WB, 42 years old, assistant first officer, HB, 47 years old, chief engineer, S. Sh., 25 years old, chief of the workshop, FI, 23 years old, oil pump maintainer, as well as Albanian citizen NM, 34 years old, the ship's first officer, were arrested in flagrante delicto.

The suspected organizers of this case, citizens JK, 31 years old, resident of Tirana, and SS, 32 years old, resident of Durrës, were also identified and declared wanted. Intensive work continues to locate and capture them.

Further, during this operation, the materials were referred to the Prosecutor's Office, where proceedings were initiated against 5 other members of the ship's crew, responsible for the maintenance of the vessel.

During the inspection of the ship, 400,000 liters of suspected smuggled oil from Tunisia were found in the ballast tanks that serve to balance the vessel.

The procedural materials were passed to the Prosecutor's Office for further action.