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Bulgarian Foreign Affairs Ministry headquarters in Sofia. File photo
A Libyan court has withdrawn the charges of smuggling of oil products brought last year against the crew of tanker vessel Sunoil, which included two Bulgarian nationals, the Foreign Ministry in Sofia announced on Friday.
The court in Tripoli has also ordered the release of the five members of the crew, which also included two Ukrainian citizens and one Romanian.
The Bulgarian seamen have returned to Bulgaria on 15 January 2016, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
On 3 January last year, the Foreign Ministry was informed that a month earlier that Sunoil, sailing under the flag of Moldova, had suffered a breakdown while in international waters near Libya's coast. An Italian cargo ship towed Sunoil 1 to the port of Tripoli.
The Libyan authorities detained the tanker and its crew on charges of trafficking of oil products, which is banned in Libya, the Foreign Ministry said.
It added that there had been no oil products on board the ship at the time of its arrest and the vessel had been sailing on course that didn’t include entry into Libyan waters.
Bulgaria has cooperated closely with the EU Delegation to Libya in resolving the case.
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