Finnish police arrested two crew members of the ship Fitburgflying the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, suspected of having damaged a communications cable between the country and Estonia. As Finnish public radio Yle reported this Thursday, citing police sources, the authorities arrested “two members of the Fitburg crew”, while two other sailors from the ship were banned from leaving the Nordic country.
“Investigative measures were taken on the vessel and the crew was questioned. We analyze the situation and the role of the crew“, said Risto Lohi, chief criminal inspector. Finnish police confirmed on Wednesday that they had seized a ship suspected of being involved in the rupture of an underwater telecommunications cable in the Baltic Sea.
The freighter It covered the route between the Russian city of St. Petersburg and the Israeli port of Haifa. On Wednesday, police and border guard officials from the Nordic country explained at a press conference that the ship’s crew consisted of fourteen sailors from Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
The capture of the ship took place in international waters in the exclusive economic zone of Finland and a coast guard vessel and a helicopter intervened, from which several officers descended on the bridge to take control of the bridge. The damage to the cable of the Finnish company Elisa was discovered on Wednesday.
Since the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, the Nordic country has experienced several incidents in which critical underwater infrastructure was damaged. in strange circumstances, something Helsinki attributes to hybrid attacks orchestrated by Moscow.
About The Author
