Photographs of the ships on the internet show two ageing vessels, the Besart’s blue paint fading and dotted with rust. The Besart was launched in 1981, the Aya Zanoubya even earlier, in 1977.
Both are registered in Tanzania, known for accepting into its sea registry boats owned by non-residents. The name ‘Besart’ means ‘promise’ in Albanian.
Indeed, prosecutors say both ships were chartered by a company called Batimarine Owner Ship, based in the Albanian port of Durres.
Montenegrin connection
Responding to a warning from Montenegro about unusually large oil purchases by Albanian ships in Montenegrin ports, prosecutors in Durres identified another route for illicit oil.
The case file identifies some 1.7 million litres of oil worth some 700,000 euros entering Albania from Montenegro between 2013 and 2016, depriving the state of roughly 1.7 million euros in unpaid taxes.
Investigators believe that fishing boats exited Durres port, ostensibly on fishing expeditions, but instead picked up tax-free fuel from companies in the Montenegrin port of Bar, far in excess of their own needs.
The Besart’s caption, Syrian national Mohammed Kahilah, told investigators that the voyage began in Tunisia with 100 tons of cement, but that he was also ordered to fill the ballast tanks with just over 400,000 litres of diesel by Batimarine Owner Ship administrator Eduart Skora, who told him it was needed to tow another ship.
Skora, an Albanian citizen, was arrested on January 26 when he crossed from Kosovo into Albania. He denied any wrongdoing, telling investigators variously that the diesel had leaked into the ballast tanks and that he needed a lot of fuel for a 98-day journey to Tanzania.
Skora also said that he personally was responsible for what was on the ship, not Batimarine Owner Ship or the company’s ultimate owner, Florian Biba.
Skora had a previous connection to Libya: in 2017, a ship he owned was seized by armed men in Libya and its crew held hostage for 34 days; he told media he paid a $34,000 ransom to secure the release of the crew and the ship.
Biba, the registered owner of Batimarine Owner Ship and a Swiss citizen of Albanian origin, could not be reached for comment.
The Customs Agent that dealt with the Aya Zanoubya, however, was paid by an oil trader called Juxhin Koka, leading prosecutors in Durres to suspect that Koka and another man, Serxhio Sula, had bought the Aya Zanoubya through an offshore company and organised the smuggling of the at least 200,000 litres of diesel found on board.
Both are on the run from arrest warrants issued against them.
After the Aya Zanoubya was seized in Porto Romano, Koka is suspected of paying a 10,000-euro bribe to the police officer assigned to guard it and then siphoning off the illicit cargo.
Questioned by prosecutors before the warrant was issued for his arrest, Koka claimed the only cargo on board was cement and denied smuggling oil. His whereabouts are unknown.
Prohibited oil from Libya