The captain of an oil tanker intercepted by ‍the French navy has been detained under investigations ​into whether it was operating under ‌a false flag, the Marseille ​prosecutor’s office said on Sunday (January 25, 2026). The 58-year-old captain, an Indian national, was detained as part of the preliminary investigations, the ​prosecutors said ⁠in a statement that did not mention Russia. The vessel left the Russian port of Murmansk in early January, sailing under ‌a Comoros flag, French authorities ‌have said. Much ⁠of the oil is carried by what is known as a ​shadow fleet of vessels operating outside of ⁠the Western maritime industry. In October, France detained another sanctioned tanker, the Boracay, off its west coast and released it after a few days

Source: The Hindu January 25, 2026 17:00 UTC