A Norwegian ship suspected of being involved in “serious damage” to an underwater telecoms cable between Latvia and Sweden has been boarded by police.
The Silver Dania cargo vessel, with an all-Russian crew, was seized by Norway’s authorities following a request by Latvian officials and a Norwegian court ruling.
The ship was stopped on Thursday and brought into the port of Tromso on Friday by the coastguard for inspection.
Damage to an underwater fibre optic cable in the Baltic Sea, running from Ventspils in Latvia, to the Swedish island of Gotland, was detected last Sunday.
“It is suspected that the ship has been involved in serious damage to a fibre cable in the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Sweden,” Norwegian police said in a statement.
“The suspicion is that someone on the (Silver Dania) has something to do with the cable incident,” police lawyer Ronny Joergensen told a news conference.
The Silver Dania’s owner, the Silver Sea shipping group, denied the vessel was involved in the damage, Norwegian broadcaster TV2 reported.
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It is the second ship named by investigators amid their inquiries into damaged undersea cables.
It comes after Finland separately seized a Russian-linked oil tanker after a cable connecting it and Estonia was cut as well.
The Baltic Sea region has been on high alert following a string of power cable, telecom link and gas pipeline outages since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.
The ship seized by Norway had been sailing from St Petersburg to Murmansk in the Russian Arctic, police said.
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Last Sunday, Swedish police boarded the Maltese-flagged cargo ship Vezhen, on suspicion it damaged the cable linking it and Latvia.
Mats Ljungqvist, the Swedish prosecutor handling the sabotage investigation in Sweden, said he believed the Vezhen caused the cable damage.
The head of the Bulgarian company that operates the Vezhen said on Monday it might have struck the undersea cable with its anchor but denied any malicious intent.
In the face of the most recent developments, NATO boosted its presence in the region.
