An Egyptian boat allegedly smuggling contraband diesel to Malta was stopped yesterday by the Libyan coastguard.

The 13-strong crew, which includes one Maltese, were caught about three miles off the coast of the northwestern region of Zuara.

A Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman confirmed that a Maltese national was among those being investigated on suspicion of smuggling.

According to Libyan news agency reports, documents discovered aboard the Fahd Al Islam detained by Libyan authorities indicate that the vessel had already made three such trips to Malta this month alone.

The Libyan Herald reported that the crew were working for a Maltese company, although it did not provide any further details.

“Contact has been established with pertinent Libyan authorities and the situation is being monitored continuously,” the spokesman added.

According to a Maltese-Egyptian source, fuel smuggling has become a very lucrative business since the start of the so-called Arab spring.

He claimed that there were two categories of smugglers.

“Some go there, fetch the fuel and then return by boat. Others smuggle fuel off the Libyan or Egyptian coast, meet Maltese smugglers in the open sea and do the swap there.”

This is the second incident of fuel smuggling involving Malta in the space of a week. Last Saturday, police arrested five locals caught pumping fuel from a boat into a van at Marsamxett.

More than 11,000 litres of diesel were seized in the raid, which came after information was passed on to police and customs officials by the Security Service.