The U.S. Department of Defense announced Monday that a Navy SEAL team boarded stolen tanker Morning Glory on Sunday at the request of the Libyan and Cypriot governments.
Pentagon Press Secretary Real Adm. John Kirby issued a statement on the operation, noting that "No one was hurt" during the boarding of the "stateless vessel seized earlier this month by three armed Libyans."
Armed Libyans used the Morning Glory to transport crude oil stolen from the Libyan National Oil Corporation. In response to the theft, NOC issued a statement that it would "pursue all of its remedies to preserve and enforce its rights over the cargo and to hold responsible all the parties participating in illicit transactions relating to it in any jurisdiction, both within and outside of Libya." The U.S. Department of State also condemned the theft.
On Sunday evening, a team of U.S. Navy SEALs attached to Special Operations Command Europe embarked on the guided missile destroyer USS Roosevelt into international waters southeast of Cyprus. The SEAL team successfully boarded and took control of Morning Glory.
"The Morning Glory," Kirby said, "will be underway soon to a port in Libya with a team of sailors from the USS Stout (DDG-55) embarked. The sailors will be supervising the transit."
[Pentagon]
