On May 31, French naval forces intercepted a suspicious tanker sailing 400 nautical miles west of Brittany, raising immediate concerns about its legitimacy. The vessel, identified as Tagor, had departed from Murmansk under the guise of flying a Cameroonian flag, despite its questionable documentation.

The interception occurred under Article 110 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which grants naval forces the authority to verify a vessel’s nationality at sea. Following the inspection, the French Navy escorted the tanker to a French port for further investigation, confirming its status as part of a larger pattern of suspicious maritime activity.

Yaoundé takes a firm stance against flag fraud

Cameroon’s authorities swiftly distanced themselves from the incident, emphasizing that the Tagor does not appear in any official vessel registry. Jean Ernest Masséna Ngalle Bibehe, Cameroon’s Minister of Transport, issued a formal statement via national radio, denouncing the