A cargo ship arriving at the port of Brindisi has been seized in recent days after authorities determined it had violated international sanctions against Russia. The vessel, flying the flag of a small Pacific island nation, was carrying 33,000 tonnes of ferrous material and had departed from Russian territorial waters in the Black Sea.

The seizure was ordered in compliance with the European Union’s sanctions packages imposed on the Russian Federation following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. According to Italy’s Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza), inspections revealed falsified and altered onboard documentation regarding the ship’s previous ports of call and cargo-loading operations.

Investigators established that between 13 and 16 November the vessel had docked and operated in the Russian port of Novorossiysk, which is subject to sanctions, carrying out prohibited cargo-loading activities. Authorities also discovered that the ship’s AIS system - the GPS transponder used to transmit a vessel’s position, route and speed - had been deliberately switched off near Novorossiysk, apparently to evade tracking and hinder monitoring by authorities.