By Libya Herald reporters.
Benghazi, 9 July 2017:
A row has broken after armed military police this morning entered Tobruk port and raided a Turkish-flagged cargo vessel suspected of fuel smuggling.
Port director Captain Ghaith Al-Tuhaimi protested that the raid had been mounted without his permission. He said in a statement that he was surprised at what had happened and rejected the action.
Tuhaimi insisted the suspect vessel was not smuggling fuel but that the cargo it had taken on board, which he did not specify, was being exported after all the proper procedures had been followed.
He said that in the past he had written to the Libyan National Army (LNA) General Command saying that he would help any investigation but it had to be done legally. This had not happened in this case.
The Turkish vessel was named as the Tanour, but a search of MartineTraffic.com showed no ship of that name. Earlier today there were three cargo vessels moored in Tobruk’s port, two of which showed no identity.
