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A Panamanian-registered freighter sailing from Russia was detained early on Sunday after discharging coal residue into the sea off Sweden’s southern coast, the Swedish coastguard reported.<\/p>\n
The captain of the Hui Yuan had admitted the offence and paid a deposit against a fine to be imposed, the coastguard said. The bulk carrier has been released and can leave Sweden.<\/p>\n
Coastguard officials acting on instruction from prosecutors earlier boarded the Hui Yuan off the port of Ystad.<\/p>\n
On overflying the Baltic Sea on Saturday, a coastguard plane had noticed that the bulk carrier was discharging coal residue into the water, the report said.<\/p>\n
“This is a violation of the Environment Code,” it said.<\/p>\n
A preliminary investigation was launched. The coastguard said that the 225-metre freighter was bound for Las Palmas in Spain.<\/p>\n
Sweden’s TT news agency reported that the coastguard had now boarded four vessels since last month, two of them off the south coast.<\/p>\n
On April 3, the coastguard searched a tanker thought to be part of the shadow fleet that Moscow uses to evade Western sanctions on Russian oil exports imposed during the course of the Ukraine war.<\/p>\n
The tankers are believed to pose a serious environmental risk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n