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Swedish Special Forces Intercept Shadow Fleet Ship Carrying Grain From Occupied Ukraine
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![Photo of Ivan Khomenko]( "Photo of Ivan Khomenko")
Swedish authorities have detained the cargo vessel Caffa in the Baltic Sea after it was suspected of involvement in transporting grain taken from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, according to Göteborgs-Posten on March 7.
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The interception took place near the southern Swedish city of Trelleborg during a coordinated operation conducted by Swedish police special forces, aviation units, and the national coast guard.
Members of the elite police unit Nationella insatsstyrkan boarded the vessel as part of an operation code-named “Svart kaffe.”
The vessel had previously been placed on Ukraine’s sanctions list after Ukrainian intelligence linked it to the transport of agricultural products loaded in temporarily occupied Sevastopol in July 2025, according to the same report.
Sweden’s Minister for Civil Defense, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, confirmed that the ship had attempted to conceal its origins by changing its flag. According to Bohlin, the vessel replaced its Russian flag with a Guinean one during the summer in an apparent attempt to obscure its activities. At the time of the interception, the cargo ship was reportedly traveling from Casablanca toward St. Petersburg.
Swedish Coast Guard officials said the operation had been carefully prepared in advance. Coast guard spokesperson Mattias Lindholm stated that authorities had evaluated potential risks before carrying out the boarding operation and are now examining the vessel and questioning crew members as part of an ongoing investigation.
According to Swedish authorities and data from the vessel-tracking service MarineTraffic, the ship had repeatedly violated maritime regulations. Investigators are currently reviewing documentation and inspecting the vessel’s condition, including possible issues related to seaworthiness and compliance with maritime safety rules.
Swedish officials said the case is being treated as part of broader efforts to counter Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet,” which is widely believed to help Moscow bypass international sanctions and transport restricted cargo.
Grateful to Sweden for taking decisive action against the Russian shadow fleet vessel "Caffa".
— Andrii Sybiha 🇺🇦 (@andrii_sybiha) March 7, 2026
Collective action against such vessels is gaining a momentum. This is a welcome development.
Sanctions work when they are strictly enforced. Together, we must stop the activities of… https://t.co/h0f9CGi3nC
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha welcomed the move by Stockholm. Writing on X, Sybiha said: “Sanctions work when they are strictly enforced. Together we must stop the activities of Russia’s shadow fleet to protect Europe’s security and environment.”
Sybiha added that the detention of the vessel demonstrates the importance of coordinated international enforcement efforts against ships suspected of violating sanctions regimes.
Earlier, on March 1, Belgian forces, supported by French military units, seized an oil tanker suspected of belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet near the Belgian coast, according to previously reported information.
The tanker, identified as the 180-meter vessel Ethera sailing under the Guinean flag, was intercepted near Ostend and escorted to the port of Zeebrugge for further investigation.
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