US Special Forces have boarded and seized the 1,000ft supertanker Majestic X in the Indian Ocean, in a major blow to an alleged Kinahan-linked network accused of moving sanctioned oil
US Special Forces have seized a 1,000-foot oil tanker in the Indian Ocean. The operation disrupted a transnational operation linked to the Kinahan crime cartel that used front companies to move sanctioned Iranian oil worth an estimated $230 million (£181 million).
The seizure, supported by US intelligence, marks a shift in the criminal gang’s activity toward state-level smuggling and highlights an alliance between the cartel and Iran to evade international sanctions.
American authorities are now seeking to confiscate the vessel and its cargo of Iranian oil. Social media footage reportedly shows two commando teams abseiling from helicopters onto the 1,000ft Majestic X as it travelled through international waters in the Indian Ocean.
The vessel, previously called the Phonix, was sailing under a Guyanese flag after transiting the Strait of Hormuz, and was reportedly headed for refineries in China. The raid came weeks after The Sunday Times and Bellingcat tied the Phonix to the Kinahan crime cartel, alleging Dubai-based ex-cage fighter Mounir Lazzez, played a key role in moving Iranian oil to China in breach of sanctions and helping fund Tehran.
The reporting caused embarrassment for officials in the UAE and prompted a clampdown, as Iran carried out nightly drone attacks targeting Dubai and other locations across the region, the Sunday Times reported. Christy Kinahan, dubbed the “Dapper Don”, has been based in Dubai since the US placed $5 million bounties on him and his son Daniel in 2022 (about £3.9 million).
On April 15 this year, Daniel Kinahan was arrested in Dubai and is awaiting extradition to Ireland, as per the Sunday Times. A week later, on April 23, US forces boarded the Majestic X in the Indian Ocean east of Sri Lanka.
The operation was backed by the USS Miguel Keith, which had tracked the tanker since it passed through the Strait of Hormuz, and was overseen by US Indo-Pacific Command with assistance from the FBI, Naval Criminal Intelligence Service and the Department of Justice, according to the Sunday Times. US agents from Homeland Security Investigations seized the tanker on the basis it was stateless and falsely flying Guyana’s flag.
Its current location is unclear because its transponder has been switched off since the raid. The ship is reportedly now at the centre of a civil forfeiture case brought by federal prosecutors in Washington DC, with the vessel and up to two million barrels of oil valued at roughly $230 million (£181 million), including oil worth about $192 million (£151 million) at current prices.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the action, calling it “legitimising piracy and armed robbery at sea”. Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said: “Welcome to the age of the return of pirates.
“With the difference that this time, they operate under official flags and government orders, calling their actions ‘law enforcement and implementation’.” Investigators say the Kinahans have longstanding ties to Tehran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and have also been linked to Hezbollah, the Sunday Times reported.
The report also outlines how Lazzez was listed as director of two Marshall Islands companies; Dragon Road Ltd and Faith Enterprise Ltd, and alleges Faith Enterprise paid $42.75 million (£33.7 million) for the tanker Luna Lake before it was renamed Phonix, with paperwork notarised at the Panamanian consulate in Dubai.
Another firm, Vision Ship Management LLP, was set up in India to manage the Phonix and was sanctioned by the US, according to the Sunday Times. The same reporting alleges Dragon Road paid $41.75 million (£32.9 million) for an ageing tanker called the Alisha; later renamed Serene I, which has also been sanctioned for smuggling Iranian oil.
Lazzez and Daniel Kinahan were photographed at a 971 Fighting event in Dubai last year, said to be Daniel Kinahan’s first public sighting since 2022. as per the Sunday Times. Maritime intelligence specialist Saleem Khan, of Pole Star Global, said: “The US Department of Justice is pursuing civil forfeiture proceedings against at least two of the seized tankers. Under forfeiture, vessels and their cargo become property of the US government and can be auctioned or sold, with proceeds typically directed to US Treasury accounts.
“The cargoes, often millions of barrels of sanctioned crude, are offloaded and sold separately.” The investigation also links the Marshall Islands address used by Faith Enterprise to Matthew Maritime Inc, owner of the MV Matthew; a ship intercepted by the Irish Naval Service in September 2023 with more than two tonnes of cocaine hidden in its hull, worth €157 million (£134 million), the Sunday Times reported.
Former UK National Crime Agency deputy director Roy McComb said: “The Kinahans are no ordinary organised crime gang. They have surpassed that long ago.
“They are a super cartel. They are bigger than South America cartels.
“The Kinahans are involved in state-like activities. Nothing like them has been seen before.
“They are involved in a super-level of criminality. You are not talking about a crime group with international reach.
“They have extraordinary capabilities. They are a group that’s involved in influencing and impacting the global landscape between the superpowers and the Iranian war.
“They are a group who are trusted by regimes and states like Iran. They are involved in a level of crime unseen before.
“Who else has the ability to move $100 million of Iranian oil?” (about £78.5 million)
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