France has extended the detention of two senior crew members of a tanker linked to Russia, which data showed was off the Danish coast last month during mysterious drone flights, a prosecutor said on Thursday, October 2. The Boracay, a Benin-flagged vessel blacklisted by the European Union for being part of Russia's sanction-busting "shadow fleet," was positioned off Denmark from September 22 to 25, according to ship tracking data analysed by AFP.
Drones have been sighted across Denmark, including over military sites, since September 22, prompting brief closures at several airports and a ban on all civilian drone flights until Friday.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday urged Europe to "increase pressure" on Russia's shadow fleet and follow his country's lead in detaining vessels used to fuel Moscow's war in Ukraine. The Boracay, now positioned off the coast of western France, was stopped by French authorities on Saturday, according to a military source who asked not to be named.
Prosecutor Stéphane Kellenberger told AFP that two crew members – who presented themselves as the ship's captain and his first mate – had been taken into custody on Tuesday. That detention was then extended on Wednesday, the public prosecutor in the northwestern city of Brest said.
His office opened an investigation following a report from the navy. The probe was launched over the crew's "failure to justify the nationality of the vessel" and "refusal to cooperate," Kellenberger told AFP.
French military personnel on Thursday remained on board the tanker, according to a military source who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "We would like to thank our navy commandos and the crews of the French navy who intervened this weekend aboard a tanker belonging to the Russian ghost fleet," French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu wrote on X.
Built in 2007 and variously known as Pushpa and Kiwala, the Boracay has been anchored off Saint-Nazaire in western France for several days. According to the specialist website The Maritime Executive, the 244-meter vessel is suspected of being involved in mystery drone flights that disrupted air traffic in Denmark in September. The publication said the tanker and other ships could have been used either as launch platforms or as decoys.
The European Union has sanctioned hundreds of ageing tankers used by Russia to circumvent oil export curbs imposed after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The tanker left the Russian port of Primorsk outside Saint Petersburg on September 20 and was scheduled to arrive in Vadinar in northwestern India on October 20, according to data from the Marine Traffic tracking website.
The French president said the "shadow fleet," estimated to include between "600 and 1,000 ships," was thought to represent "tens of billions of euros of Russia's budget" and make up "40% of the Russian war effort."