Crew Aboard Oil Tanker Reportedly Planned to Sabotage More Baltic Cables, Investigation Finds

Crew members aboard an oil tanker, suspected of sabotaging undersea power and communication cables in the Baltic Sea, were reportedly planning to target additional infrastructure when Finnish authorities boarded the vessel last month, according to the head of the Finnish investigation, as reported by Reuters on January 14.

The head of the investigation, Risto Lohi of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation, revealed that the tanker was on the verge of endangering additional critical infrastructure, including the Estlink 1 power cable and the BalticConnector gas pipeline linking Finland and Estonia.

“There was an almost immediate danger that other cables or pipelines critical to our underwater infrastructure could have been damaged,” Lohi stated.

The captain of the Eagle S is Georgian, while the crew comprises citizens of India and Georgia. Finnish authorities have identified nine crew members as suspects, all of whom have been placed under travel bans to facilitate the investigation.

“We have interrogated the crew, and nine members are currently treated as suspects. Our focus is on individuals responsible for the ship’s navigation and anchor operations,” Lohi explained.

The Baltic Sea region has been on heightened alert following a series of outages to power cables, telecom links, and gas pipelines since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

On December 26, Finnish authorities seized the Eagle S, a tanker carrying Russian oil, on suspicion of dragging its anchor across the seabed for more than 100 kilometers (60 miles). Officials believe this action caused damage to the Finnish-Estonian Estlink 2 power line and four telecommunications cables.

Earlier, reports emerged that NATO was set to deploy up to ten naval vessels in the Baltic Sea to secure critical underwater infrastructure, as part of a new operation that will begin at the end of this week and continue until April. The initiative aims to enhance the protection of energy and data cables, which are considered essential for the region’s security.