Serrano

Tunis 15 April 2017: A top Tobruk businessman is demanding a boycott of Tunisian goods after describing Tunisian customs as pirates for seizing containers from two Libya-bound vessels. Ibrahim Al-Jarari, chairman of the Tobruk Chamber of Commerce and Industry, last month called for a ban on Tunisian ships entering Libya ports. Now he is extending his demand to include Tunisian goods. The problem appears to have begun when this February customs officers at the port of Sfax found some 25 million packets of cigarettes in 15 containers aboard the Panamanian-flagged Med Prodigy. Tunisia’s customs chief Adel bin Hassan was reported by local radio station Saraha FM to have hailed the customs’ seizure as the largest ever and said the cigarettes were worth $17 million. The Med Prodigy’s captain is alleged to have told customs officials the cigarettes came from Turkey and had been ordered by a Libyan businessman for delivery to Misrata. The vessel had sailed to Sfax from Valencia. According to MarineTraffic.com, it is still in the port nine weeks later. Tunisian customs has not explained if the shipping manifest for the containers was incorrect. https://www.libyaherald.com/2017/04/15/tobruk-call-for-tunisian-boycott-after-tunis-customs-seize-containers/

The "Med Prodigy" was being stuck at Sfax port since having been detained after the port entry on Feb 9, 2017, by Tunisian authorities due to security fears. The ship was to deliver 136 containers with general goods from Valencia to Misrata and Tubruk. The Libyan authorities were trying to release the vessel, claiming that there were no arms in containers. In 2015 both the "Med Prodigy" and the "Atlantic Prodigy" were engaged in notorious Syrian military transportations. All containers with goods bound for Libya were offloaded, because the shipment was declared illegal by unclear reasons. Investigation and legal proceedings were under way. Libya considered the seizure to be illegal and violating international laws, and demanded the release of the vessel.

The "Atlantic Prodigy" while en route from Istanbul to Lattaquie suffered engine failure on Sep 29, 2015, while transiting the Dardanelles. The technical trouble arose roughly in the middle of the passage. The master informed the Traffic Control Center which sent the "Söndüren 7" to assist. As the crew was able to fix the problem, the vessel was allowed to resume its voyage, and on Sep 30 at 2.30 p.m. was under way in Aegean Sea.