Norwegian police detain ship with Russian crew on suspicion of sabotage
Kyiv • UNN
The Silver Dania vessel, which is cruising between St. Petersburg and Murmansk, was detained in the port of Tromso at the request of Latvia. The vessel is suspected of involvement in damaging the submarine cable between Sweden and Latvia.
The Silver Dania was brought to port Tromso with the assistance of a coast guard ship. Searches and interrogations on board are currently underway.
Transmits to UNN with reference to AFP and TV 2 Nyheder.
Details
On Friday, Norwegian police brought a vessel suspected of involvement in the sabotage of a cable in the Baltic Sea to the port of Tromso.
This is stated in a press release from the Tromso Police District.
According to police, the Silver Dania is owned by Norwegians and registered in Norway. It is suspected of involvement in sabotage of a fiber optic cable between Sweden and Latvia.
On Friday morning, police arrived at the ship to search it and question the crew.
The head of the Silver Sea company, which owns the vessel, denied the allegations of any illegal activity.
“We were sailing off Gotland, but we did not drop anchor,” Tormod Fossmark said, according to AFP.
The Tromsø police, which includes Tromsø, stated in a press release the following:
Based on a legitimate request from the Latvian authorities, the Tromsø Police Department arrested the Norwegian-registered Silver Dania, a Norwegian-owned vessel. The vessel is traveling between St. Petersburg and Murmansk.
An undersea fiber optic cable between Latvia and Sweden was damaged on Sunday. Swedish law enforcement officers detained the Bulgarian vessel Vezhen, flying the Maltese flag. Vezhen, suspected of involvement in the incident. According to Vesselfinder, the vessel had left the Russian port of Ust-Luga a few days earlier and was in the area between Gotland and Latvia. The Swedish Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation into the “large-scale sabotage.”
