On Friday, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) executed a coordinated raid 100 nautical miles west of Mumbai, busting three tankers allegedly running an Iranian oil “smuggling racket.
The interception happened on the high seas well outside India’s standard territorial waters. Using surveillance and data analysis, ICG personnel tracked the vessels, boarded them, and conducted “sustained rummaging.”
The search paid off. Electronic data and crew interrogations reportedly exposed a “global handler network” directing the ships.
The Vessels Involved According to TankerTrackers.com, all three ships are under U.S. sanctions:
- Al Jafzia: Formerly Chiltern, flying a Nicaraguan flag.
- Asphalt Star: Falsely broadcasting a Malian flag.
- Stellar Ruby: Flagged in Iran.
Data from Pole Star Global reveals how they operated. The vessels used widespread AIS spoofing to mask their locations, appearing to be on normal commercial voyages while actually shuttling between Iranian petroleum transfer zones (off Basrah and Khor Fakkan) and India’s west coast.
The U.S. Treasury has linked these ships to Jugwinder Singh Brar, an Indian national sanctioned under EO 13902. Brar is accused of managing a fleet of nearly 30 vessels that specialize in concealing the origin of Iranian oil through ship-to-ship (STS) transfers.
“The Iranian regime relies on its network of unscrupulous shippers… to enable its oil sales,” said U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Current Status : As of Sunday, tracking data showed the three seized vessels moving in convoy toward a port on India’s west coast for further investigation.