Suspicious vessel from Turkey being monitored

Greece’s intelligence services and coast guard as well as foreign authorities have again been put on alert over the last few days due to what is described as a suspicious cargo ship which set sail from Mersin in southeastern Turkey with a declared destination of Alexandria, Egypt.

There are suspicions that the Cameroon-flagged cargo ship, Grace A, is transporting military equipment to the Ankara-backed government in Libya, in violation of the arms embargo on the North African country. 

It set sail from Turkey on March 6 and, according to the MarineTraffic website, was last located on April 7 off Cyprus, south of Larnaca, and has since turned off its automatic identification system.

The international database (equasis.org) shows that the ship belongs to a company based in Lebanon.

Greek officials confirmed to Kathimerini that the ship’s movements alerted authorities, but said that, until Friday, its destination and cargo had not been clarified.