Ship carrying ‘stolen’ Ukrainian grain intercepted by Lebanon

A Syrian-flagged ship that had moored at a port in the north with a cargo of Ukrainian grain on board that Kyiv‘s embassy in Beirut claimed was “illegal” was seized on Saturday by a Lebanese prosecutor. According to a judicial official, prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat ordered police to look into the Laodicea, which docked in Tripoli earlier this week.

The Ukrainian embassy reported that the grain on board the ship flying the Syrian flag was loaded from a location controlled by Russian soldiers, thus Lebanese police were also urged to contact them.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February, and Kyiv has frequently accused Moscow soldiers of pillaging its grain storage facilities. “The Syrian-flagged ship is carrying barley and flour,” according to the Lebanese foreign ministry. Ihor Ostash, the ambassador for Ukraine, informed Michel Aoun, the president of Lebanon, on Thursday that the ship was carrying “illegal barley from occupied Ukrainian territory”.

According to early reports, the grain belongs to a Syrian businessman, and the shipping company’s owner is a Turkish person, the court official added. The person further stated that some of the goods will be transferred to Syria and others would be unloaded in Lebanon. The documentation for the ship was “all in order and there is no proof that the merchandise was stolen,” a customs official told AFP.

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Some media reports claim that the US had imposed sanctions on the Laodicea years ago as part of its campaign against the Bashar al-Assad administration in Syria. The event occurred as Ukraine, one of the biggest grain exporters in the world, prepared to begin grain exports as a result of a deal supported by the UN.

A Russian naval blockade and Ukrainian mines set to prevent an amphibious landing on the Black Sea coast have left millions of tonnes of food in Ukraine trapped. The Laodicea was taken over as Lebanon, which is dealing with one of the worst financial crises in history, was also experiencing a severe bread shortage.

(with inputs from agencies)