The Swedish intelligence service Säpo has seized a ship suspected of damaging a cable in the Baltic Sea. The intelligence service wrote in a press release on Sunday evening. The case is being investigated as gross sabotage, Säpo writes.
Earlier in the day, a cable operator reported that an underwater cable between Sweden and Latvia had been damaged. Later, Sweden's Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, wrote that at least one data cable had been damaged. The intelligence service has not described which ship is in question or what will now happen to the vessel.
According to the Swedish media outlet Expressen, the ship is located off Karlskrona. The Swedish Coast Guard has confirmed this to the media outlet. Expressen further writes that the ship is called "Vezhen". The vessel is registered in Malta.
Investigating the case
In a press release from the Swedish Public Prosecutor's Office, Senior Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist states that a number of investigative steps are being carried out. He cannot go into detail about the details at this time due to the investigation, it says.
- I can confirm that the Swedish authorities are now working intensively together to investigate this incident, it says.
It is, among others, the Swedish Coast Guard as well as the Swedish Defense and Police, who are currently working with the suspected sabotage, it says in the Säpo press release.
Earlier on Sunday, the cable operator informed the Latvian media LSM that the damage was probably caused by "external influence".
Great attention on cables in the Baltic Sea
There is currently great attention on submarine cables in the Baltic Sea after several incidents with damaged cables.
In Finland, among others, the tanker "Eagle S" is suspected of damaging several cables in the Baltic Sea. In December, Finnish police boarded the ship and forced the crew to sail it into Finnish waters.
"Eagle S" is registered in the Cook Islands, but the ship is believed to belong to Russia's shadow fleet, which ships oil. Expressen writes that the ship "Vezhen" left the Russian port of Ust-Luga, located in the easternmost part of the Baltic Sea, on January 24.
/ritzau/
Text, graphics, images, sound, and other content on this website are protected under copyright law. DK Medier reserves all rights to the content, including the right to exploit the content for the purpose of text and data mining, cf. Section 11b of the Copyright Act and Article 4 of the DSM Directive.
Customers with IP agreements/major customer agreements may only share Danish Offshore Industry articles internally for the purpose of handling specific cases. Sharing in connection with specific cases refers to journaling, archiving, or similar uses.
Customers with a personal subscription/login may not share Danish Offshore Industry articles with individuals who do not themselves have a personal subscription to Danish Offshore Industry.
Any deviation from the above requires written consent from DK Medier.
