HELSINKI (Reuters) – The proprietor of an oil tanker seized by Finland, suspected of breaking an underwater energy line and 4 telecommunications cables within the Baltic Sea final week, is demanding the ship’s launch, an official mentioned on Monday. lawyer representing the corporate.
On Thursday, Finnish police and coast guard boarded the Cook dinner Islands-registered Eagle S and introduced it close to a Finnish port the place the crew members are being questioned.
Baltic Sea nations are on alert after a sequence of outages of energy cables, telecommunications hyperlinks and gasoline pipelines since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. NATO introduced on Friday that it will strengthen its presence within the area.
Investigators mentioned they consider that on December 25, the Eagle S broke the Estlink 2 underwater energy cable linking Finland and Estonia, and reduce or broken 4 fiber optic strains by dragging its anchor on the seabed for tens of kilometers.
Finland’s president mentioned final week he believed extra harm would have been completed to the seabed if the ship had not been stopped.
Finland’s customs service mentioned it believed the Eagle S was a part of a ghost fleet of ageing tankers used to evade sanctions over the sale of Russian oil, and formally seized its cargo though it was nonetheless on board the ship.
The proprietor of the Eagle S, United Arab Emirates-based Caravella LLC FZ, filed an software with the Helsinki District Courtroom on Monday to cancel the seizure of the vessel.
Finnish lawyer Herman Ljungberg, who filed the paperwork on behalf of the corporate, mentioned authorities had offered no clarification for the authorized foundation for the detention and boarding of the vessel.
“The Finns hijacked a ship,” Ljungberg informed Reuters.
He mentioned the crew had been questioned by investigators with none authorized help and had been disadvantaged of sleep.
A police spokesperson mentioned the seizure of the ship befell in accordance with Finnish legislation and that crew members had been knowledgeable of their rights, together with authorized help.
They weren’t disadvantaged of sleep, the spokesperson added.
#Proprietor #calls #launch #oil #tanker #seized #Finland #cable #investigation #Reuters , #Gossip247
,
