Libya navy seizes oil tanker, detains Filipino crew

Navy spokesman General Ayoub Kacem said the vessel was intercepted on Sunday off Abu Kamash, 170 kilometres (110 miles) west of Tripoli, and its crew transported to the capital to appear before the prosecutor general.

The Liberian-flagged tanker belonging to a Greek company was loaded with six million litres (1.5 million gallons) of contraband fuel, he said.

Plunged into conflict and political chaos since a 2011 revolution that ousted and killed Libya’s longtime leader Colonel Moamer Kadhafi, oil smuggling to Tunisia, Malta and Tunisia has become a lucrative trade.