UAE to impose high penalities on rogue tankers
Date: 23-Apr-01
Country: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
The UAE decision comes after a sanctions-busting Iraqi tanker, the Zainab, sank off the coast of Dubai, causing an oil slick that has spread to the country's northern shores.
The tanker, which was carrying 1,300 tonnes of fuel oil, was one of two ships seized in UAE waters last week after they were intercepted by a multinational sanctions-enforcing force.
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Hamdan bin Zaid al-Nahayan told a special committee that the sanction-busting ships would be confiscated and their owners prosecuted.
The English language Khaleej Times yesterday quoted a port official in Abu Dhabi as saying eight ships stopped by UAE authorities were being held at Mina Zayed in the capital.
He said the tankers' cargoes were likely to be auctioned and the vessels put up for sale. The seized ships include the Honduran-flagged Diamond which was intercepted on Friday.
Officials have said that Iraq, under sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, has increased the amount of oil it smuggles out of the country. A British official said in February that Iraq had sold $600 million worth of smuggled oil in 2000.