SBU Detains Foreign Cargo Ship Transporting Ukrainian Grain From Crimea in Odesa Waters

According to investigators, the ship repeatedly docked at the port of Sevastopol during 2023-2024 to load stolen agricultural products.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has detained a foreign cargo ship and its captain in the waters of the Danube, near Odesa, for helping the aggressor to transport Ukrainian grain from Crimea.

The Security Service of Ukraine announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.

According to the statement, the ship was sailing under the flag of a Central African country, and its crew was fulfilling a Russian order to export Ukrainian grain from the temporarily occupied Crimea.

An investigation revealed that in 2023-2024 the ship frequently docked at the port of Sevastopol to load looted agricultural products. The ship then transported the cargo to the Middle East, where it was sold on behalf of Russia.

To conceal this crime, the captain periodically turned off the ship’s GPS tracking device and entered false information into the log of routes and berths, helping the Russians export multi-ton shipments of Ukrainian grain stolen from the temporarily occupied southern regions of Ukraine.

The investigation identified the ship’s captain as a citizen of a South Caucasus country. In addition to him, the ship's crew included 12 other foreigners.

A search of the ship uncovered documents, navigation equipment, and other material evidence of the criminal activity.

Based on the collected evidence, SBU investigators have charged the ship’s captain under Section 2 of Article 332-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the procedure for entering and leaving the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine).

The authorities are considering the preventive measures to be taken against the suspect. He faces up to five years in prison.

As part of the criminal proceedings, the suspect’s vessel was towed to Odesa and confiscated by court order. The investigation is continuing. It aims to establish all the circumstances of the crime and identify the other persons involved in the illegal activity.

Officers of the Crimean and Odesa regional divisions of the SBU conducted the operation together with the maritime security units of the State Border Guard Service under the procedural direction of the Prosecutor’s Office for Crimea and Sevastopol.