A Russian cargo ship named Lady R was docked in Simon’s Town harbour in Cape Town before leaving without explanation on Friday.
By Friday afternoon the ship had disappeared from marine monitoring services despite being heavily guarded by armed officials for three consecutive nights, the Daily Maverick reported.
Several residents in the area claimed they had seen the ship leaving the harbour in the early hours of Friday morning.
Adding further mystery to the matter, the Russian vessel offloaded unidentified cargo to the armed officials during its stay in the harbour.
Lady R was picked up on the scanner docking system between 8pm and 10pm on Tuesday night – despite the vessel’s automatic identification system being offline.
The system provides the ship’s position, identification and other information to the coastal authorities.
The Department of Defence and the South African National Defence Force have not provided a reason for the Russian ship being in the country or said what it offloaded under the darkness of night.
DA defence spokesperson Kobus Marais said the silence from the government was “unacceptable”.
Residents claim to have seen six containers being moved by cranes between the ship and the dock at around midnight on Thursday.
“Trucks were parked at a local sports ground during the day, and were heavily armed and guarded,” Marais said.
David S Feldmann, spokesperson for the US Embassy in Pretoria, said the government was told the ship would be arriving.
“We had previously advised the South African government that Lady R was planning to stop in South Africa,” he told the Daily Maverick on Thursday.
“We had indicated the vessel was sanctioned under US law because the ship is part of Russia’s military export-import business, and had cautioned that entities supporting the vessel could run afoul of US sanctions.”
Pictured above: Russian ship Lady R in Simon’s Town
Image source: SAPeople
