The “Grinch”, the oil tanker boarded by France on Thursday, was “suspected of flying a false flag”
The maritime prefect of the Mediterranean gave more details on Thursday in a press release on this “action carried out in cooperation with our allies, including the United Kingdom”and which took place “on the high seas” between Spain and North Africa, aboard the “cargo tanker Grinch from Murmansk”, Russian Arctic port in the Barents Sea, which he left on December 28, 2025.
“Carried out on the basis of Article 110 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, this operation aimed to verify the nationality of a ship suspected of flying a false flag”specifies the press release. After the team boarded, the documents were reviewed “confirmed the doubts as to the regularity of the flag displayed” and a report was made to the public prosecutor of Marseille, competent under the maritime court.
The ship was therefore diverted. He is currently “escorted by means of the national navy to an anchorage point for continued checks”it is written. Contacted by The Worldthe maritime prefecture did not wish to give more details for the moment on this operation which is still in progress.
This is the second carried out by France after the interception of the Boracay. The latter, which is also on the list of ships sanctioned by the European Union, was boarded at the end of September by French naval commandos in the Atlantic Ocean and diverted to the port of Saint-Nazaire.
The tanker was finally able to return to sea six days later. Its commander, of Chinese nationality, is summoned to Brest on February 23 to be tried for “refusal to comply”. In this type of case, legalization, with referral to a court, is extremely rare.
