US Navy Seals took control of an oil freighter “Morning Glory” that was seized by three armed Libyans earlier this month, according to a press release issued by the US Department of Defense.
Six Pakistanis were also on board the vessel when it was seized.
No one was hurt “when US forces, at the request of both the Libyan and Cypriot governments, boarded and took control of the commercial tanker Morning Glory, a stateless vessel seized earlier this month by three armed Libyans,” Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said in a statement.
The operation was approved by US President Barack Obama and was conducted just after midnight on Monday “in international waters southeast of Cyprus”.
The Morning Glory is carrying a cargo of oil owned by the Libyan government National Oil Company. The ship and its cargo were illicitly obtained from the Libyan port of As-Sidra, according to the statement.
The commercial taker will be underway to a port in Libya with a team of sailors supervising the transit, the statement further stated.