Libya Coast Guard seized two oil-smuggling tankers off the country’s western coast on Friday, a navy official said.

Spokesman of the Libyan Navy, Brigadier-General Ayoub Qasim, said Ukraine-flagged tanker Routa with 14 crewmembers of Ukrainian nationalities and another Congo-flagged called Stark with 9 crewmembers of Turkish and Georgian nationalities were intercepted early in the morning 2 km west of Zuwara port, a hub for fuel and human smugglers.  

He said the two tankers refused orders of Coast Guard patrols to stop, igniting more than three hours of exchange of fire with fuel smugglers escorting the tankers.

“Our patrols managed to seize the two tankers,” he said. Qasim declined to give further information on the incident.

Earlier this month, Libyan Coast Guard killed four human smugglers after they refused to obey orders to stop.