A small tanker loaded with petrol whose last recorded position was in Malta has been seized off the Libyan Coast and brought to Tripoli, the Libya Herald reports.

"The Captain Khayyam was intercepted by a Libyan naval vessel after it had left Zuwara". The Sierra Leone-registered vessel was allegedly carrying 1.6 million litres of petrol and had nine people from countries including Azerbaijan, Turkey and Ukraine aboard".

The ship is a 900-ton 61 metre long bunkering tanker.

"If the vessel was involved in smuggling, as has been asserted by naval spokesman Ayoub Qassem, then it would seem likely it was part of the illegal trade in fuel to Malta which the authorities in Valetta have long pledged to stamp out," the Libya Herald read.