Finland moves Eagle S oil tanker closer to land as investigation intensifies

(Bloomberg) — Finnish police are stepping up their investigation this week into damage to undersea cables and moving the impounded Eagle S oil tanker closer to land.

Operations to move the vessel to Swartbeek, an anchorage near the port of Kilpilahti, are scheduled to begin at 10:50 a.m. local time on Saturday, authorities said in a statement. The Helsinki Police Department, with support from the Finnish Border Guard, takes the lead.

Finland’s National Investigation Agency seized the Cook Islands-flagged vessel two days ago after discovering damage to undersea power lines and multiple data cables while investigating possible serious criminal mischief.

Authorities believe the anchor of the missing ship they found cut 170 kilometers (105 miles) of power lines connecting Finland and Estonia. Since then, four underwater data cables have also been disrupted.

“The new location provides better options for conducting investigative measures,” police said in a statement. The authorities’ onboard operations will be suspended during the transfer and resume once the ship is berthed.

They said police had established a one-nautical-mile exclusion zone around the tanker and a no-fly zone was currently in place around Schöldvik Bay.

Kilpilahti is also home to Neste Oyj’s Porvoo refinery.

Finnish police earlier said the Eagle S was part of Russia’s shadow fleet transporting oil and was loaded with unleaded gasoline.

Specialist shipping publication Lloyd’s List reported on Friday that the Eagle S was loaded with transmitting and receiving equipment, effectively making it a Russian ” Spy ship”. servicing tankers in recent months.

Sources said the high-tech equipment on the Eagle S was unusual for a commercial ship and consumed more power from the ship’s generators, causing repeated power outages.

This week’s damage was the third such incident in more than a year. Last month, a high-speed fiber optic cable in the Baltic Sea connecting Finland and Germany was potentially cut due to external influences, and a nearby line between Lithuania and Sweden was also damaged, with authorities connecting the Chinese bulk carrier Yipeng 3 to Sweden. event.

“Ships are currently damaging important undersea cables in the Baltic Sea on an almost monthly basis,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock told the Fink media group on Friday evening. “This is an urgent wake-up call for all of us. ”

A year ago, the Hong Kong-flagged New Zealand Polar Bear’s anchor pulled down at least two data cables and a gas pipeline, prompting NATO to step up patrols in the Baltic Sea.

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