Sweden has seized the dry cargo ship Caffa for illegally transporting Ukrainian grain from territories temporarily occupied by Russia.
The Swedish Prosecutor General’s Office reported the seizure.
A Swedish court will now decide whether the vessel can be transferred to another country.
The dry cargo vessel was detained on March 6 by Swedish border guards in the Baltic Sea near the city of Trelleborg. The ship was en route from Casablanca to Saint Petersburg.
Since March 10, Caffa has been held under arrest as part of an investigation into violations of international law and sanctions.
The Swedish Prosecution Authority explained that the decision to confiscate the vessel was made after receiving a request for legal assistance from an unnamed country that is conducting a pre-trial investigation into an alleged crime.
“A foreign authority requested that certain investigative measures be carried out in Sweden, including those related to the vessel Caffa. I decided to confiscate the ship so that the court could consider the issue of its possible transfer to another state,” said prosecutor Håkan Larsson.
Law enforcement authorities paid particular attention to the fact that the vessel was sailing under a false flag of convenience of Guinea.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, in July 2025, the dry cargo ship loaded stolen grain in the temporarily occupied city of Sevastopol. Due to its involvement in illegal schemes to export goods from occupied territories, Ukraine added Caffa to its sanctions list.
Vladyslav Vlasiuk, еhe Authorized Representative of the President of Ukraine for Sanctions Policy, said in a comment to Militarnyi that Sweden’s decision to confiscate the vessel Caffa, which is linked to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet and the illegal export of Ukrainian grain from temporarily occupied territories, is a notable precedent in the enforcement of sanctions.
“This is no longer just a detention, but a move to practical action. Previously, such vessels could expect that the risks would be limited to inspections or short-term detentions. Confiscation changes the rules of the game,” he noted.
According to Vlasiuk, Russia uses a shadow fleet to export resources from the occupied territories of Ukraine, including grain, and attempts to integrate these shipments into global markets through complex logistics schemes.
