A report on the latest results of Operation IRINI revealed that the operation, since it began its duties in April of the year 2020, has inspected 20 suspicious ships, one of which was transferred to a member state of the European Union to have its cargo seized, and the report added that Turkey refused on 6 occasions approval of the inspection of suspicious ships belonging to it.
The report indicated that the operation examined 4,002 merchant ships through information via radio calls, while 183 ships were visited based on their captains, which is the so-called friendly approach.
IRINI also investigated 610 suspicious flights, monitored 25 airports and 16 ports, and submitted 31 special reports to the UN Panel of Experts on Libya, 26 of which referred to proven and potential violations of the arms embargo and oil smuggling activities from Libya, while 48 issued recommendations to relevant law enforcement agencies.
Last September, IRINI inspected 215 commercial ships via radio calls, and carried out 9 visits with the captain’s approval out of 183, and conducted two inspections of suspicious ships. During the same month, the operation monitored 36 suspicious flights out of 610, and continued to monitor 25 airports and landing strips and 16 ports and oil terminals.
According to the report, the Operation’s Criminal Information Cell issued 7 recommendations out of 48 to inspect suspicious ships in the ports of European Union member states, while 7 out of 39 recommendations were completed.
The report concluded by saying that the inspections do not affect the nature of the activities of the ships that were questioned or inspected, in addition, the inspections are carried out by taking preventive measures against the Coronavirus.
