‘Made a scapegoat’: Wife of Indian captain jailed in UK over Russian oil vessel case
The wife of an Indian merchant navy captain detained in the UK claims her husband is being made a scapegoat in a sanctions violation case involving a Russian oil tanker. The captain faces potential prison time for his role in transporting Russian oil, which the UK alleges violates international sanctions.
Why it matters
The case underscores the legal risks faced by maritime workers caught in the crosshairs of international geopolitical sanctions.
The wife of Indian merchant navy captain Ajay Pant has called her husband a “scapegoat” after he was arrested in Britain over alleged sanctions violations linked to a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker.Pant, 38, has been in custody in Britain since June after Royal Marines and National Crime Agency officers boarded the sanctioned tanker Smyrtos in the English Channel. He faces charges under UK sanctions regulations that carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. His trial is scheduled to begin on December 15.“My husband just became the scapegoat,” Ritu Pant, 36, told AFP in her first sit-down interview since her husband's arrest. “He was at the wrong place at the wrong time.”The Smyrtos was intercepted on June 14 in the first UK-led operation of its kind.
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