Police in Gibraltar have
arrested the captain and chief officer of the detained Iranian Grace 1
supertanker accused of violating EU sanctions on Syria.
Documents and electronic
devices were also seized from the vessel during the operation.
Last week British Royal Marines
boarded the tanker off Gibraltar and seized it on suspicion that it was
breaking EU sanctions by taking oil to Syria.
"The investigation is
still ongoing and the Grace 1 continues detained," police said in a
statement on Thursday.
The two men, both
Indian nationals, were arrested on Thursday afternoon and
interviewed.
Neither have been charged, according to
reports.
In a statement, the Royal
Gibraltar Police said the arrests followed a "protracted" search of
the vessel, which remains in detention,
The arrests come after Iranian boats tried to seize a British oil tanker in the
Gulf.
Three vessels, believed to
belong to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, approached the tanker while it was
sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.
But British warship HMS
Montrose, which reportedly had its 30mm deck guns trained on the boats, warned
them off over radio.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman
said: "HMS Montrose was forced to position herself between the Iranian
vessels and British Heritage and issue verbal warnings to the Iranian vessels,
which then turned away."
"We are concerned by this
action and continue to urge the Iranian authorities to de-escalate the
situation in the region."
The Iranian Revolutionary
Guard, which is thought to have been operating the patrol boats, denied the
incident, saying if it had received orders to seize any ships it would have
done so immediately.
It comes after Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani said Britain would face "consequences" over
the seizure of an Iranian tanker.
The Department for Transport this week
raised its security level for British shipping sailing in Iranian waters to its
highest level, level three, meaning an incident is considered to be imminent.
Vessels were advised to take
enhanced security measures and to avoid transiting through Iranian waters if at
all possible.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt
described the developments as "very concerning" and said security in
the region was kept under constant review.
"We are constantly
monitoring security and constantly keeping under review the kind of security we
need to keep British shipping safe," he said.
As well as the Montrose, the
Navy has four mine countermeasures vessels and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary
Cardigan Bay logistics ship in the region.
With typically between 15 and
30 British-flagged merchant ships in Gulf waters on any one day, providing
individual escorts has been ruled out.