A Lebanese shipowner has denied transporting tanks to Libya after a car carrier master was arrested in Italy.
Lebanese captain Youssef Tartoussi has been held in Genoa over alleged sanctions breaches involving the detained 1,320-lane-metre Bana (built 1980), AP reported.
His lawyer Cesare Fumagalli told the news agency there is no proof the vessel entered Italian waters with such arms on board, and Italy therefore has no jurisdiction in the case.
The vessel is owned by Lebanese businessman Merhi Abou Merhi, according to AP. He has denied the ship was used to transport armoured vehicles to Libya.
AIS data shows it docked in Genoa on Monday morning
The owner is listed as Med Wave Shipping by Equasis.
Italian prosecutors have alleged Bana transported tanks, vehicles fitted with rocket launchers and machines guns, and explosives from Turkey to Libya in defiance of international embargoes.
They claim the vessel turned off AIS as it was approaching the ports of Mersin, Turkey, and Tripoli in Libya.
Investigations began when the third officer, with the help of the shipping company's local agent, contacted border police and requested asylum.
Phones may hold the key
According to the judge's ruling in approving the arrest order, the officer told Italian authorities the ship left Beirut on 21 January, and stopped the next day in Mersin, even though the port had not been on its navigational plan.
The Turkish foreign ministry has not commented.
Italian prosecutors have asked experts to see whether crew members' mobile phones can help determine the route taken.
Fumagalli argued that phones sometimes connect to masts in countries near by, which does not prove the vessel was in these territorial waters.
Judge Silvia Carpanini said the whistleblower took photos of the armaments allegedly aboard.
Merhi cleared by US
Owner Merhi and his shipping company Abou Merhi Lines (AML) had previously been sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) in late 2015 over alleged narcotics trafficking.
These allegations were fiercely refuted by Merhi.
In February 2016, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia confirmed after further investigation that no wrongdoing on the part of Merhi could be found, nor were there any discernible links between the owner, his shipping company and any criminal network.
However, it took more than a year for the US Department of the Treasury, which Ofac is a part of, to make a final determination that there was no basis upon which to target Abou Merhi and AML for sanctions.
