Master of tanker Bella 1 jailed for ten months in Washington

A federal court in Washington DC sentenced Avtandil Kalandadze, a 47-year-old Georgian national, to ten months in prison followed by deportation, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said on 7 August. He had pleaded guilty in June to failing to heave to for a Coast Guard cutter. Prosecutors say he commanded the tanker Bella 1 while it carried about 1.8 million barrels of Iran-origin oil between September and December 2025, and that the ship fled the cutter Munro across the Atlantic before its seizure on 7 January. US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said the ocean "does not place anyone beyond our reach".

This is a summary in our own words of the linked reporting. Allegations are those of the source. How we report.