UK jailing of Indian sailor over Russia sanctions sets off ‘perfect storm’

Captain Ajay Pant was in international waters when his allegedly ‘shadow’ tanker was captured by British soldiers in a first-of-its-kind case, which has prompted outrage among global seafarers, as his wife tries to free him. Ritu Pant always made sure that her merchant navy officer husband told her two things before departing on an assignment. “I always noted the details and the name of his ship and his emergency contact details in case of a crisis,” says Ritu, who is based in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand.

That’s what she did on April 25, when her husband Ajay left Paradip Port in the state of Odisha on board the MT Smyrtos, a crude oil tanker. Her husband had been a sailor for 18 years, and spent six or seven months a year at sea. But growing threats to seamen – amid the wars in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine, and from pirates roaming the high seas – had increased her jitters in recent years.

Yet it was through a social media post that she learned in mid-June that the ship had been captured.