France detains Boracay over flag doubts linked to Danish drones

French naval forces boarded and detained the oil tanker Boracay on Saturday as it sailed from Russia toward India, opening a criminal investigation into the vessel's identity and possible links to recent drone flights that forced temporary airport closures in Denmark, French authorities said. The ship was diverted toward the Loire port of Saint-Nazaire while prosecutors in Brest examined inconsistencies in its registration and the crew's refusal to cooperate.

Prosecutor Stéphane Kellenberger said investigators concluded the ship was not flying a verifiable flag and that the crew failed to justify the vessel's nationality. French officials said the tanker had left the Russian terminal at Primorsk near Saint Petersburg carrying about 750,000 barrels of crude bound for Vadinar in India. The Boracay, a Benin-flagged ship that has sailed under several names including Pushpa, Varuna and Kiwala, is blacklisted by the European Union and the United Kingdom on suspicion of belonging to what European officials describe as a "shadow fleet" of tankers used to obscure ownership and evade sanctions and a crude price cap.

French President Emmanuel Macron framed the detention as part of a...