MoD breaks silence as ‘serious questions’ explode over ‘staged’ Marines tanker raid

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has rebuffed claims that the seizure of an alleged Russian shadow fleet tanker in the English Channel by Royal Marines was “staged”. Dramatic footage released by the MoD on Sunday showed commandos fast-roping onto the Smyrtos, before making their way through the vessel, checking stairways, corridors and living quarters.

Former Army officer and Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty said there are “serious questions” over the pictures, suggesting they had been set up “for the cameras”.

He wrote on X: “There are serious and legitimate questions about the authenticity of the footage released by the MoD of the interdiction of the Russian Shadow Fleet vessel this morning. How is the cameraman ahead of the Marines clearing the stairwell to be able to film them coming towards him?

“How has the cameraman gone past the open doors of rooms that haven’t yet been cleared? How much of this has been staged for the cameras?”

Mr Obese-Jecty said while he does not doubt the sanctioned tanker had been seized and the operation carried “significant risk”, he said he does “question the PR and the desperate need for a win by the Government at the Royal Marines’ expense”.

The Smyrtos, which was sailing under a Cameroon flag, was seized in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Marines, armed with assault rifles, boarded the vessel alongside specially-trained law enforcement officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA).

Chinook, Merlin and Wildcat helicopters, an RAF P-8A maritime patrol aircraft and the Royal Navy’s HMS Sutherland and HMS Ledbury were also all involved in the six-hour operation.

A spokesperson for the MoD admitted the footage had been recorded after initial forces had already “cleared” the Smyrtos.

They said this was done to ensure the filming could be done safely but denied it had been “staged” or contained repeated activities, GB News reports.

The spokesperson added: “There were multiple points at which personnel fast-roped onto the vessel, including when some were already on board, which could then be captured.”

The footage showed the “level of diligence and detail” needed to clear a vessel, they said.

Mr Obese-Jecty is not the only person to have questioned whether the seizure of the Smyrtos — the first by British forces since Sir Keir Starmer gave the military permission to board suspected shadow fleet vessels — was a PR move for the ailing Labour government.

Former Navy commander Tom Sharpe told the Express: “We’ve had well over 100 [shadow fleet vessels] pass us since we last said we were going to do something about it in March, and we haven’t.

“There’s just no way that the perfect one happened to pop up just as everything else is descending into farce.

“So, this is a deeply cynical ploy to make defence look robust, to make Starmer look robust.”

He added: “Why didn’t we do this a week ago, or two weeks ago, or a month ago?”

The operation came at the end of a disastrous week for the Prime Minister after Defence Secretary John Healey and Armed Forces Minister Al Carns both quit over a deepening military spending row.

The MoD has insisted the interdiction was the result of weeks of military and political planning.

A 38-year-old Indian national was arrested after British forces intercepted the Smyrtos, the NCA said.

Shadow fleet vessels, are typically ageing oil tankers with murky ownership and dubious flagging, are used to help fund Moscow’s war on Ukraine by ferrying Russian oil and gas while evading international sanctions.