Telco Exec: "Substantial Evidence" Links Tanker to Baltic Cable Breaks

 

Two weeks after a suspected subsea sabotage attack in the Baltic, Finnish telecom provider Elisa has repaired two cables across the Gulf of Finland and has confirmed that the cables were damaged by an external force. 

"The current suspicion is that the external force has been caused by an anchor," Elisa chief security officer Jaakko Wallenius told Reuters on Monday. 

The cables are now repaired but the inquiry continues. On Friday, Finland's Central Criminal Police told media that samples from the cable damage sites will be taken for forensic investigation.

On Dec. 25, Fingrid's EstLink 2 power transmission cable and four subsea telecom cables in the Gulf of Finland were suddenly severed, including two cables belonging to Elisa. The time and location of the outages corresponded to the position of the tanker Eagle S, and a drag line of up to 50 nm long was found on the bottom. 

Finland asked Eagle S to divert into Finnish territorial seas, and the crew agreed to comply. The ship was boarded and detained, and it is now anchored off Porvoo for a continuing investigation. According to the Central Criminal Police, eight crewmembers are suspected of criminal activity and have been served with travel bans preventing them from leaving the country. 

Without providing more details, Elisa's Wallenius told AFP on Monday that - while it is up to law enforcement to determine fault - he could say that "there is compelling evidence of the Eagle S at the site" of the cable breaks.