U.S. federal prosecutors have filed criminal charges against the captain of the seized oil tanker Marinera (formerly Bella 1), marking one of the first times a master of a shadow fleet vessel has been indicted under U.S. law.
The indictment, filed on 12 February 2026, targets Avtandil Kalandadze, a Georgian national, on two federal counts. One charge relates to the use of a false flag – flying the Guyana flag on the tanker even though it was not legitimately registered there at the time U.S. forces first intercepted it in late December 2025. The second count accuses him of refusing to obey lawful orders from the U.S. Coast Guard to stop the tanker and allow boarding for inspection.
MV Marinera (IMO 9230880) was seized by the U.S. military on 7 January 2026 after a prolonged trans-Atlantic pursuit. During the chase, the crew reportedly disabled GPS tracking systems, altered course toward the North Atlantic, and attempted to change the ship’s registration and identity to evade interception.
U.S. authorities contend the tanker was involved in transporting sanctioned crude oil from Iran and Venezuela and was part of the so-called shadow fleet – vessels that employ evasive practices such as false flags, altered AIS data and opaque ownership structures to circumvent international sanctions. Under U.S. sanctions policy, such vessels may be considered stateless, permitting boarding and seizure under international maritime law.
The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy captured MV Marinera in international waters near Iceland and Scotland after the tanker refused to stop in the Caribbean Sea. Russian, Ukrainian and Georgian crew members were aboard; most were allowed to leave the vessel, but the captain and the ship’s first officer remain in U.S. custody and face prosecution. Some crew members have reportedly agreed to travel to the U.S. to aid prosecution.
The prosecution of a tanker captain for sanctions evasion and related maritime offences is unprecedented and underscores intensifying enforcement against shadow fleet operations that link Iran, Russia and Venezuela’s oil trades under opaque shipping practices.
