Dubai-based Indian national Jugwinder Singh Brar, owner of the three ‘Iran-linked’ ships seized by Indian authorities earlier this month, has threatened to file a defamation case against the Indian authorities for seizing his “innocent ships”.
Brar is the owner of the three sanctioned vessels - Stellar Ruby, Asphalt Star and Al Jafzia - which were seized by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) during its crackdown on illicit oil trade and ship-to-ship cargo transfers. The government also confirmed the seizure of the tankers about 100 nautical miles west of Mumbai following detection of suspicious activity in India's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), but did not mention the Iran link.
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According to a statement issued by the ICG, it busted an international oil smuggling racket through a coordinated sea-air operation conducted between February 5 and 6. The operation targeted “an organised network involved in illicit mid-sea transfers of oil and oil-based cargo from conflict-affected regions.”
However, Brar told Tradewinds News that his tankers arrested by the ICG are innocent of oil smuggling. The vessels are operated by Brar’s Prime Tankers LLC (Prime Tankers) and Glory International FZ-LLC (Glory International), which has over 30 petroleum tankers, the majority of which are handysize ones that stick to coastal waters and carry a fraction of the cargo of larger tankers.
Brar was sanctioned in April 2025 by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac), which accused the fleet of 27 tankers of facilitating the transport of Iranian oil.
Brar said he plans to file a defamation case against the Indian authorities. “There is no smuggling involved,” he said, adding that Al Jafzia had been sold for scrap and was “awaiting clearance to berth in India “a good 150 nautical miles from the Indian coast.”
“When a vessel is sent for scrap, the minimum amount of bunkers and stores is sent with it,” he said. “Because she was not getting permissions, she was waiting there. And after a long wait of about 15 days, she started running low on bunkers,” Singh Brar told TradeWinds. “It’s dangerous to the environment. If she is to black out, she could go aground.”
The Asphalt Star went out to deliver 20 tonnes of bunkers to the MR tanker, the owner said. “That is all that was done at 150 nautical miles. No commercial activity,” he stressed.
The Stellar Ruby had discharged a cargo in India and was taking out water supplies to the Al Jafzia, he added: “She took proper permission from the coastguard to provide drinking water.”
He said any vessel in distress can be supplied with water, bunkers or provisions, and no country could stop from helping them. He also accused the ICG of having no experience, knowledge and of harassing the ships. “There’s not a drop of smuggling or anything to do with the shadow fleet, or this fleet or that fleet,” he said.
He is denying Iranian trading claims and is still fighting the US authorities over the sanctions.