COPENHAGEN: Finnish police mentioned on Tuesday (Jan 7) that they had recovered a misplaced anchor from the seabed as a part of an investigation of suspected sabotage towards energy and web cables within the Baltic Sea.
Finland final month seized the Eagle S tanker carrying Russian oil on suspicion that the vessel had broken the Finnish-Estonian Estlink 2 energy line and 4 telecoms cables by dragging its anchor throughout the seabed.
“The situation the place the anchor was discovered is alongside the route of the Eagle S … in the direction of the western finish of the drag hint discovered on the seabed,” Finland’s Nationwide Bureau of Investigation (NBI) mentioned in a press release.
A Finnish lawyer representing United Arab Emirates-based Caravella LLC FZ which owns the Eagle S, has mentioned Finland hijacked the vessel at sea and will launch it, a request that was denied by a court on Friday.
The corporate’s lawyer and Caravella LLC FZ didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Tuesday.
Photographs of the Eagle S taken because the incident present the vessel is lacking its port aspect anchor.
Baltic Sea nations are on excessive alert after a string of energy cable, telecom hyperlink and gasoline pipeline outages since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The NATO navy alliance has mentioned it will boost its presence in the region.
The anchor was recovered from the seabed with the assistance of Finland’s border guard and defence forces in addition to the Swedish navy, the police mentioned.
“It’s going to contribute to the progress of the legal investigation, and it’s now topic to forensic evaluation,” NBI Detective Superintendent Risto Lohi mentioned within the assertion.
