Master of Shadow Fleet Tanker Pleads Guilty to Not Obeying USCG Orders

tanker pursued by USCG — US Coast Guard chased the tanker from the Caribbean across the Atlantic (USCG photo)

The master of the shadow fleet tanker Bella 1, which was pursued for weeks by the U.S. Coast Guard, pleaded guilty today, June 12, in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia for refusing to obey orders from the U.S. Coast Guard. Avtandil Kalandadze, age 47 and a citizen of the Republic of Georgia, took the USCG on a multi-week pursuit from the Caribbean through to the North Atlantic before the tanker was finally seized on January 7.

Failing to obey an order to “heave to” carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, absent aggravating circumstances, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Sentencing is set for August 7, and the Attorney’s Office said Kalandadze will be deported at the completion of his prison term.

According to the plea agreement, from September 2025 until late December 2025, Kalandadze was the master of the motor tanker Bella 1. During his time as master, the Bella 1 transported approximately 1.8 million barrels of Iran-origin oil to Asia. The U.S. asserted that Kalandadze employed common obfuscation techniques to hide the activities of the Bella 1, including sailing with an inactivated Automatic Identification System (AIS) and concealing the name of the Bella 1 while engaging in a ship-to-ship transfer of the Iran-origin oil to another vessel.

In December 2025, while under his charge, the Bella 1 was en route to Venezuela when it was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro. The Bella 1 failed to comply with the Coast Guard’s order to heave to and fled across the Atlantic Ocean.

The U.S. says that at the direction of a corporate representative of the operator of the tanker, Kalandadze took multiple steps to avoid the Coast Guard interdiction, including disobeying multiple orders by authorized federal law enforcement officers to heave to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Munro. They assert he also destroyed records and information on board the Bella 1. The operators also sought the protection of Russia, announcing the ship had changed its name to Marinera and registered under the Russian flag.

After the U.S. finally stopped the vessel, it was taken to Scotland. There, the U.S. would be accused of whisking the master away in the middle of the night to avoid legal efforts to prevent his deportation.

U.S. authorities at Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) assert that the tanker conducted a “reckless weeks-long chase across the Atlantic,” and multiple early attempts to evade detection. They said it used a range of deceptive tactics in an attempt to evade the U.S. Coast Guard and move millions of barrels of oil tied to Iran. The tanker, however, was empty, traveling with ballast, when the pursuit began.

Reports said the U.S. ultimately towed the tanker across the Atlantic, but most people lost track of the vessel. Its ownership remained murky. The tanker, however, changed names days ago to Era and is now shown as registered in Comoros. Its AIS signal shows it is underway and will arrive in Trinidad next week. It is the ninth identity for the 318,518-dwt tanker, which was built in 2002.