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USCGC Munro shadows MT Marinera in the North Atlantic

USCGC Munro shadows MT Marinera (ex Bella 1) in the North Atlantic, January 7, 2026. Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

By Mike Schuler, gCaptain, August 10, 2026
The former master of a shadow fleet tanker linked to Iranian and Venezuelan oil shipments has been sentenced to 10 months in federal prison after refusing orders to stop during a weeks-long pursuit by the U.S. Coast Guard across the Atlantic Ocean.

 

Avtandil Kalandadze, 47, a citizen of Georgia and former master of the tanker Bella 1, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after pleading guilty in June to one count of failing to heave to a Coast Guard cutter. He will be deported after completing his prison term.

“Kalandadze captained a vessel used to conceal illicit oil shipments for U.S. adversaries, and when the Coast Guard ordered him to stop, he fled,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said. “This case demonstrates that those who try to evade U.S. law enforcement even on the open sea will be held accountable.” “

The sentencing brings another chapter to a case that became one of the most closely watched maritime sanctions enforcement operations in recent years, involving a pursuit that stretched from the Caribbean into the North Atlantic before U.S. authorities ultimately seized the tanker.