Tromso police say they seized and then released a vessel sailing between two Russian ports. Swedish and Latvian investigators are looking into the severing of an underwater cable under the Baltic Sea.
Police in Norway said on Friday that they had released a Russian-crewed ship after intercepting the vessel off the northern coast in connection with damage to underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.
“The investigation will continue, but we see no reason for the ship to remain in Tromso any longer,” police attorney Ronny Joergensen said in a statement. “No findings have been made linking the ship to the act.”
The Norwegian officials were acting on a court request from Latvian authorities after a seabed fiber optic cable was ruptured between Latvia and Sweden.
What do we know about the seized ship?
Norwegian authorities said the vessel was the Norwegian-registered and Norwegian-owned ship Silver Dania.
The ship was sailing between St. Petersburg and Murmansk and the entire crew on board is Russian.
In a statement, police said the ship was brought into port at Tromso early on Friday morning with help from a coastguard tug boat.
The crew and shipping company were said to be cooperating with the Norwegian authorities.
Police said they had boarded the ship to search, conduct interviews and secure evidence.
Tormod Fossmark, CEO of the SilverSea company that owns the ship, denied that the vessel caused any damage.
“We have no involvement in this whatsoever,” Fossmark told the AP news agency.
“We did not have any anchors out or do anything, so that will be confirmed today,” he added, expressing hope that the ship would be able to sail onward later on Friday.
Second vessel to be seized over broadcaster cable
Sweden and Latvia are investigating the suspected sabotage with Swedish police also recently having boarded the Maltese-flagged, Bulgarian-owned cargo ship Vezhen on suspicion it caused the damage.
Norwegian police said both ship seizures were related to the same incident.
Police lawyer Ronny Joergensen told a press conference that the suspicion was that someone on the Silver Dania was involved with the incident.
The cable, running from Ventspils in Latvia to the Swedish island of Gotland was used by Latvian state media. It was reportedly damaged early on Sunday.
Source: https://www.dw.com/en/norway-releases-cargo-ship-in-baltic-cable-sabotage-probe/a-71477546