Court in Sweden orders arrest of the captain of Russian “shadow fleet” tanker Sea Owl I

A court in the Swedish city of Ystad ordered the arrest of the captain of the tanker Sea Owl I (IMO: 9321172), which was recently detained off the country’s southern coast. According to a report by The Associated Press, citing the TT news agency, the captain, a Russian citizen, is suspected of using forged documents.

The captain was detained on Friday, a day after Sweden’s coast guard boarded the vessel off the coast near the city of Trelleborg. Prosecutors said the district court granted the investigation’s request and ordered him held in custody for the duration of the investigation.

The tanker was sailing under the flag of the Comoros Islands, but Sweden’s coast guard suspects the registration is fictitious and that the vessel is effectively stateless. That means no jurisdiction can guarantee the safety of its operation. According to the coast guard, the ship was traveling from Brazil to the Russian port of Primorsk and had previously carried oil between those countries. However, it had no cargo on board at the time of detention.

Sea Owl I is now anchored south of Trelleborg, where the dry cargo ship Caffa (IMO: 9143611), detained earlier this month, is also anchored. The investigation is being led by the Malmo prosecutor’s office and concerns the possible use of forged documents, violations of maritime law, and the vessel’s seaworthiness.

Russia’s embassy in Sweden said on March 14 that the tanker’s crew consists of 24 sailors, 10 of them Russian citizens, including the captain. The rest are Indonesian citizens. According to Ambassador Sergey Belyaev, the captain was arrested and the vessel was banned from operating. The diplomat said an embassy representative had contacted the captain, who reported that the crew was feeling normal and was working to correct deficiencies identified during the inspection.

Sea Owl I is designated on EU sanctions lists as being part of the “shadow fleet,” a network of ageing and poorly insured vessels that is used to circumvent restrictions on Russian oil exports. The ship was also placed under UK sanctions in October 2025 as part of restrictions on tankers involved in transporting Russian energy resources.

The tanker was detained on March 12 on suspicion of using a false flag. Swedish authorities said the risk of safety violations on board was too high to allow the ship to continue passage through the country’s territorial waters. Sea Owl I was headed to the Russian port of Primorsk.

A week earlier, Swedish authorities detained another vessel, the dry cargo ship Caffa, which was also bound for a Russian port — St. Petersburg. Its captain is also suspected of using forged documents, and the vessel itself had previously been accused of transporting grain from annexed Crimea to Syria. Most of the dry cargo ship’s crew members were confirmed to be Russian citizens.