Swedish court arrests vessel CAFFA over Ukrainian goods from occupied territories – Prosecutor General

At the request of the Ukrainian prosecution, a court in Sweden has approved the arrest of the vessel CAFFA, which may have been involved in the illegal export of Ukrainian products from the temporarily occupied territory, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko has reported.

On his Telegram channel on Thursday, he noted that this is the first case where a foreign court has approved the arrest of a vessel at the request of the Ukrainian prosecution for international legal assistance.

"According to the investigation, CAFFA systematically violated the procedure for entering and leaving the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine with the aim of causing harm to the interests of the state," Kravchenko informed.

According to him, a false registration scheme was used to conceal the illegal activity: in international databases, the vessel is designated as "Guinea False".

The Prosecutor General reminded that on March 12, 2026, the Prosecutor General’s Office turned to the Ministry of Justice of the Kingdom of Sweden with a request for international legal assistance. The Ukrainian side requested to conduct a search of the vessel, interrogate the captain and crew members, as well as place an arrest on CAFFA.

"The Swedish competent authorities promptly began executing the request. As early as the week following its receipt, a search of the vessel was conducted and witnesses were interrogated. Today, this process received an important procedural continuation. The court approved the arrest of the vessel," the Prosecutor General summarized.

He added that this case is a clear signal that "no manipulations with flags, routes, or registration will help evade responsibility".