TIRANA, Feb  20 /ATA/ – By  I. Vata/- The State Police on Monday finalized the police operation encoded “Embargo,” which resulted in the seizure of a ship smuggling 22,500 tons of diesel oil.

The State Police announced that, “the police structures operating in Durrës, especially the Section for Economic and Financial Crime in Local Police Directorate of Durrës, in the follow-up to successive operations carried out in recent months, with the aim of cracking down on diesel oil smuggling coming from Libya and other countries, have continuously secured, through intelligence sources, information about a Liberian flagged ship that would smuggle a very large amount of oil.”

“Based on this information, the police launched the operation dubbed “Embargo,” which resulted in the seizure of a Liberian- flagged ship, which was smuggling 22,500 tons of oil, with forged documentation to Albania,” according to the police.

Also, the State Police announced that, based on the first investigative actions, it is suspected that this oil cargo came from countries subject to an oil embargo, specifically from Russia.

The vessel had departed from Azerbaijan and it is alleged that it loaded up at the port of Kalamata, Greece, from another vessel, in the amount of 22,500 tonnes of diesel fuel.

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