Italy’s Financial Police Seize Cargo Ship for Violating Sanctions Against Russia

Italy’s financial police arrested a ship in the port of Brindisi for violating sanctions against Russia. It is highly likely that this is the bulk carrier HIZIR REIS, owned by the Turkish company Emiroglu Shipping.

A video of the arrest was posted by Italy’s financial police on their Facebook page.

According to the Italian publication Opinion Agency, after entering the port, the ship flying the flag of a small island state in Oceania, which was carrying 33,000 tons of ferrous metal, was arrested.

The exact name of the ship that was arrested has not been officially disclosed. It is highly likely that this is the bulk carrier HIZIR REIS, owned by the Turkish company Emiroglu Shipping. This is the only cargo ship that, according to monitoring services, is currently in the port of Brindisi and matches the appearance of the arrested ship shown in the video. In addition, it flies the flag of the small island nation of Tuvalu in Oceania, which matches the description of the vessel.

According to monitoring services, in 2025, this vessel most often sailed between Turkish and Russian ports. There were 17 recorded visits to the port of Novorossiysk alone during the year.

Upon arrival, the ship’s import declaration was processed by the Customs Agency’s analytical systems to check for any prohibitions and restrictions in accordance with EU regulations. The check revealed serious discrepancies, falsifications, and alterations in the ship’s documentation.

In particular, a check carried out by the Financial Police on a number of ship documents, as well as an analysis of data obtained from the ECDIS (mandatory electronic navigation system), established that the ship was in and operated in the port of Novorossiysk between November 13 and 16, 2025, performing prohibited cargo operations.

As a result of the checks carried out by the Financial Police, it was established that the vessel’s AIS transponder system was switched off near the Russian port of Novorossiysk. This was presumably done to avoid geolocation and to obstruct the control activities of the competent authorities.

The investigations made it possible to accurately reconstruct the vessel’s route and operations, which were carried out in violation of the EU Regulation on sanctions against the Russian Federation, despite the misleading statements of the vessel’s captain and attempts to obstruct the establishment of facts by falsifying documents and disabling the transponder.

As a result, the vessel and its entire cargo were seized. The importing company, the shipowner, and some crew members are under investigation for evading European Union restrictive measures.

On January 12, it became known that the British government had established a legal mechanism allowing the military to stop, inspect, and detain ships of the so-called “shadow fleet” that transport oil in circumvention of sanctions.

This primarily concerns ships from Russia, Iran, and Venezuela. A significant proportion of these ships operate without a valid national flag, which deprives them of legal protection in international waters.