Revealed: how Royal Marines seized tanker suspected of taking Iranian oil to Syria by abseiling onto deck under cover of darkness

Royal Marines abseiled down ropes from a Wildcat helicopter in a dramatic operation to seize an oil tanker off Gibraltar today.

The operation which took only minutes was launched under the cloak of darkness shortly after midnight.

One group of marines boarded the ship from the helicopter while others arrived by rib speedboat, together with 16 Gibraltarian police.

A military source said: “It was a professional job - what you would expect of the Royal Marines.”

Royal Marines stormed the tanker via a helicopter
Ministry of Defence

The marines had flown from their base in Devon to carry out the mission, part of a crackdown on suspected sanction-busting by Iran and Syria.

The tanker, operated under a Lebanese company, was suspected of carrying crude oil from Iran to Syria in breach of European Union sanctions. Its crew put up no resistance.

One group of Marines boarded by helicopter and the other by boat
REUTERS

Gibraltar’s chief minister, Fabian Picardo, praised the “brave men and women” from the Royal Marines and the local agencies involved in the operation.

The tanker was suspected of trying to take Iranian crude oil to Syria
REUTERS

The EU has imposed a series of sanctions on Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria in response to its civil war and use of chemical munitions.

US and European intelligence agencies monitor suspicious Syria-linked shipping movements in the Mediterranean and have identified Russian vessels believed to be transporting millions of dollars of jet fuel to Syria via Cyprus or Greece.

The Marines stormed tanker Grace 1
REUTERS

Some of the fuel is thought to have been used for the Syrian air force and some for Russian planes.

Some ships turn off their GPS devices to try to hide their movements.

Iranian oil tankers have also been accused of sending incorrect satellite signals that confuse global tracking systems and are believed to be part of attempts to hide journeys made by other ships to Syria.

Some of the identity data they emit overrides that of the suspected smuggling ships so their voyages are concealed. At the same time Iranian ships may appear to be in the eastern Mediterranean when in fact they are in the Indian Ocean, according to sources.

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