The captain of ‘Red Garnet’ was arrested on Sunday morning at Vasilikos Power Station in Larnaca district on charges of illegal entry dating back to October and December of 2020, a CNA report said. The Malta-flagged tanker was returning to the Black Sea.
Greek Cypriot law enforcement officers arrested the captain, a 60-year-old Romanian national, after it was determined that he had docked in the north at Boğaz, Famagusta district.
On Tuesday a Larnaca District Court judge sentenced the captain to one month in prison for unauthorized entry to the Republic of Cyprus.
Boğaz is considered to be a “closed port” by the “Republic of Cyprus”, despite the fact that it operates under Turkish Cypriot authorities. Violators can be prosecuted for illegally docking their ships in the north.
In 2019, a similar event occurred when a Syrian captain, was detained after his Belize-flagged vessel docked in Famagusta port. He, however, was given an €1800 fine by a Limassol judge on the same day as his arrest but received no prison sentence.
