The Russian bulk carrier “Zafar” again transported stolen Ukrainian wheat to the Houthis

After leaving the port in temporarily occupied Sevastopol, the ship’s crew turned off the transponder, which indicates the intention to hide the route.

The vessel “Zafar” made another voyage from occupied Sevastopol to Yemen, transporting stolen Ukrainian grain. This is  stated in the investigation of the SeaKrime project.

Bulk carrier “Zafar”, which has already appeared in numerous investigations due to the smuggling of Ukrainian grain, took out wheat from the “Avlita” terminal in Sevastopol on October 8, 2024. The ship left the port after almost two months of waiting.

The cargo is 35,566 tons of wheat. It is intended for the Yemeni company Muroj Alrabie Foodstuf. Export documents were issued to the company “TD Idealprod” from Moscow. The transponder was also turned off on board the ship, which indicates the intention to hide the route.

Also, among the submitted documents, the investigators found fake phytosanitary certificates signed by an employee of occupied Sevastopol, as well as bills of lading signed by the violator captain Vyacheslav Vidanov, against whom criminal cases are already being prepared.

This is “Zafar’s” second illegal flight to Yemen. It will be recalled that the first flight took place in May this year, when a shipment of wheat was delivered to the Yemeni port of Salif, controlled by the Houthis.

Despite the theft of Ukrainian grain, the delivery of wheat from occupied Sevastopol to Yemen was allowed by the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism for Yemen (UNVIM). The case was covered by Lloyd’s List and Belingcat.

At the time, security analysts called it a worrying development that should raise alarms about the UN-led verification mechanism.

The day before, USM wrote that since the beginning of 2024, the Russian Federation has exported more than 180,000 tons of grain through the port of Mariupol.