A grain thief who exported Ukrainian grain to the Houthis returns to the Black Sea

The bulk carrier “Zafar”, which the UN previously let through to unload stolen Ukrainian grain in the Houthi-controlled port of Salif, is returning to the Black Sea.

“Zafar”’s return to the Black Sea was reported by Kateryna Yaresko, a journalist of the SeaKrime project “Peacemaker Center”. According to her, there was no public reaction from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of any of the countries.

It will be recalled that in May of this year, the thief ship turned off AIS and loaded 35,700 tons of wheat in the temporarily occupied Sevastopol. This is confirmed by both Ukrainian investigators and foreign media such as Lloyd’s List and Bellingcat.

After that, the ship went to Djibouti, where it received permission to call at the port of Salif, which is controlled by the Houthis. It is worth noting that the permit was issued by the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism — it is one of the UN bodies that inspects ships going to the ports of Yemen.

Since the ship did reach Salif port on June 30, it can be understood that the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism had no problems with the ship.

Previously, USM reported in more detail that the UN allowed a Russian ship to deliver cargo to the Houthis despite the fact that the grain was stolen from Ukraine.