Ajay Pant is accused of violating sanctions by supplying or delivering "prohibited oil / oil products from Russia to a third country"
British prosecutors have charged the Indian captain of an intercepted alleged Russian shadow fleet vessel seized in the Channel with sanctions contravention offences, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said on Monday.
British commandos boarded the ship off the southern English coast by fast-roping from a helicopter in the dark, according to footage released by the defence ministry, in the first operation of its kind led by the UK.
"Indian national Ajay Pant, 38, has been charged," the NCA said in a statement on Monday evening.
It accused him of violating sanctions by "directly or indirectly supplying or delivering by ship prohibited oil / oil products from Russia to a third country during the period of June 2026".
The statement noted that the Crown Prosecution Service β which handles criminal charging decisions in England and Wales β authorised the move "following a review of the file submitted by the NCA".
Pant is scheduled to appear at Southampton Magistrates' Court in the southern English city on Tuesday, the agency said.