Finland authorities have made startling revelations about Russia’s suspected Shadow fleet tanker Eagle S. National Bureau of Investigation have found the track mark at the sea bed for 50 miles from the point of origin to the end. Finnish Authorities, who carried out the sonar survey told media that the chain was still in the water and the anchor was missing when officials boarded the vessel for an inspection. Authorities are conducting the investigations into suspected sabotage of Finland Estonia power link cable Estlink2 and 4 other internet cables in the gulf of Finland on Christmas Day. The Russian ship was detained on 26th December.
Shailesh Kumar, National Defence
New Delhi, 30 December 2024
NBI’s Tactical Leader, Detective Chief Inspector Sami Paila says, “With the underwater operations, we have been able to identify the dragging track at the seabed from the beginning to the end. The track is dozens of kilometres in length. For the time being, the possible location where the anchor came off has not been established”.
With the help of the investigative measures on board the Eagle S tanker and the underwater on-site investigation the police want to be able to form an accurate picture of the incidents in the Gulf of Finland.
The operation is led by Helsinki Police Department and supported by the Border Guard. The NBI is responsible for leading the criminal investigation.
The Eagle S tanker was escorted on Saturday, 28 December, with the assistance of the Border Guard, to the inner anchorage Svartbäck in the vicinity of the gulf of Sköldvik. The National Bureau of Investigation has continued investigation on board the vessel.
According to Finnish police, the on-board operations on the Eagle S tanker have continued. However, the poor weather conditions at the anchorage today have hindered the operations. Technical investigation is carried out on board, and currently the focus is on the questioning of the crew.
The captain of the Russian tanker Eagle S is said to be of Russian nationality while other crew is of Indian and Georgian nationality. Eagle S is a crude oil tanker that sails under the flag of the Cook Islands.
The ship is operated by Caravella LLCFZ, a company registered in the United Arab Emirates. It was originally built in China for the Singapore company FR8 Holdings PTE Ltd in 2006, which operated it under the name FR8 Pride. From last one and half years, the Russian ship is manager by Mumbai based Peninsular Maritime India Pvt Ltd.
Your channel, National Defence spoke to one of its director Mr. Shravan Kumar, who said the ship was conducting an innocent passage under UNCLOS and vouched that Indian crew is innocent. He categorically denied ship being part of Russia’s Shadow Fleet as alleged in Western Media Reports.
Your channel National Defence has names of Indian crew but withholding the names as the Finnish authorities have yet not filed any case against them.
Maritime website Lloyd’s List citing sources published a report saying that the Eagle S had been carrying sophisticated signals intelligence equipment on at least one prior voyage, and that the crew had been threatened into silence about its purpose. The portable gear was brought on board as recently as seven months ago, and was fully removed at the end of the voyage, the source said. The anonymous source also claimed that an unidentified non-crewmember was seen aboard the tanker as well. However, Finnish police dismissed the report as a “rumor” in comments to Yle, and said that no such equipment had been found Eagle S at the time of her arrest.
The Finnish authorities discontinued investigation and other operations due to bad weather that has also been challenging for the patrol vessel Turva and the underwater operations carried out by the NBI investigators.
Watch our earlier story on Eagle S detention
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