According to preliminary data, the ship was carrying drugs containing narcotic substances, and it was seized on November 4.
The Russian embassy explained that after receiving information about the arrest of Russian citizens, it immediately asked the Egyptian authorities for permission to organize a consular visit, where the embassy is in constant contact with the relatives of the detainees.
The wife of the ship’s captain, Sergey Eremezin, claimed that after his arrest in Egypt, a man who presented himself as a lawyer for the families of the sailors called and asked for a thousand dollars to provide his service to the captain and 300-500 dollars to the sailors themselves (for food and cigarettes).
The lawyer contacted the sailors’ relatives in poor English and Ukrainian, and asked to transfer the money to his bank account.
In response, the lawyer promised to report on the progress of the investigation and to allow the captain’s wife to speak with him “if there is an opportunity.”
On the other hand General Cargo SOY is currently located at EMED – East Mediterranean at position 31° 11′ 48.3″ N, 029° 52′ 48.5″ E as reported by MarineTraffic Terrestrial Automatic Identification System on 2022-11-14 09:33 UTC (1 day, 7 hours ago)
The vessel is currently at port ALEXANDRIA, EG after a voyage of 13 days, 8 hours originating from port AMBARLI, TR.
SOY (IMO: 8421731) is a General Cargo that was built in 1985 (37 years ago) and is sailing under the flag of Comoros.
It’s carrying capacity is 1610 t DWT and her current draught is reported to be 2.6 meters. Her length overall (LOA) is 70.01 meters and her width is 10.37 meters.
