Coast Guard says fuel found aboard vessel bound for Cuba

The U.S. Coast Guard said it intercepted the Grace in the Caribbean Sea on September 5 while the vessel was sailing toward Cuba, then escorted it to Mexico, where a Mexican Navy inspection found large quantities of fuel in its ballast tanks. Authorities did not disclose how much fuel was aboard, its type, who owned it or who was meant to receive it. The Coast Guard said its team boarded the vessel after suspecting it of using tactics associated with the so-called dark fleet, a term for ships suspected of deceptive practices that can obscure ownership, movements or cargo. The agency has not publicly detailed what tactics it believed the Grace used or how it established the vessel’s intended destination, citing intelligence, according to one account. After the boarding, the Coast Guard escorted the Grace to Progreso, Mexico. A Mexican Navy inspection there found fuel stored in the vessel’s ballast tanks, according to the Coast Guard. The agency also said containers aboard the ship were believed to hold illicit fuel, but the supplied accounts did not provide inspection records or further details about those containers.