Finnish police continue investigation of tanker Eagle S.

Photo: Finnish Police

Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and other authorities are continuing investigations of a Cook Islands registered tanker, the Eagle S. Widely identified in media reports as having links to Russia’s shadow fleet, the tanker was detained soon after investigations began into the December 25 rupture of the Estlink 2 power transmission cable in the Gulf of Finland.

The Eagle S was escorted, Saturday, December 28, with the assistance of the Border Guard, to the inner anchorage Svartbäck in the vicinity of the gulf of Sköldvik.

The Finnish Police says that on-board operations on the Eagle S tanker have continued. However, the poor weather conditions at the anchorage today have hindered the operations. Technical investigations are continuing on board, and currently the focus is on the questioning of the crew.

The bad weather has also been challenging for the patrol vessel Turva and the underwater operations carried out by the NBI investigators. The underwater operations had to be discontinued yesterday.

“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 kilometers in length. For the time being, the possible location where the anchor came off has not been established,” said Detective Chief Inspector Sami Paila of NBI.

The Eagle S is registered under complex corporate structures that obscure its beneficial ownership. According to Lloyd’s List, “the registered owner is Caravella LLC FZ, a single-ship entity purportedly, based in a business center within a luxury hotel in Dubai. The vessel is managed by Peninsular Maritime India Private Limited, a Mumbai-based company.”

According to a Finnish press report, a lawsuit filed in Helsinki Monday by maritime lawyer Herman Ljungberg on behalf of Caravella and the ship’s crew challenged the legality of the continued detention of the vessel and crew .