Vani

The global search for the so-called “ghost fleet” has entered a new phase. An advertisement appeared on LinkedIn offering a €500,000 reward for verified information on the current location of the 'Omra', The unusually high reward was posted by an account linked to the vessel’s former identity, suggesting an escalation in private and possibly state-sponsored efforts to track the ghost ships, which are used to evade sanctions and maintain the flow of energy revenues for Russia and Iran. The 'Omra' is a prime example of the evasion tactics used by these vessels.The vessel has repeatedly changed flags and registrations to avoid being identified, operating first under a fake Guyanese flag before switching to the Comoros flag, a jurisdiction frequently used in sanctions evasion schemes. Formerly known as the 'Vani', the vessel was repainted and renamed before being sanctioned by the USA in July 2025. Despite these sanctions, the tanker was recently detected in Iranian waters in late January 2026, and its last known location, on Feb 17, was near Malaysia, a region known for illegal ship-to-ship oil transfers on the high seas designed to conceal the crude's origin and reflecting the growing use of opaque maritime networks to finance the war economies of sanctioned countries. Tankers in the “ghost fleet” operate with false registrations, disabled tracking systems, and fictitious corporate structures, making them difficult to detect and sanction.