Libya: SEAL Team Raids a Tanker and Thwarts a Militia’s Bid to Sell Libyan Oil

Mar 17, 2014 | David D. Kirkpatrick, The New York Times
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CAIRO — United States Navy commandos seized a renegade tanker carrying illicit Libyan oil in the Mediterranean southeast of Cyprus on Monday, thwarting a breakaway militia’s attempt to sell the oil on the black market. No shots were fired, no one was injured and the commandos captured three armed Libyans described by the ship’s captain as hijackers.The predawn raid, carried out by about two dozen members of the Navy SEALs using high-speed boats from a nearby destroyer, rescued the fragile transitional government in Tripoli from a potentially catastrophic loss of control over its main source of revenue and last source of power: Libya’s vast oil reserves.