Norway has released a Russian crew suspected of having damaged an optical fiber cable connecting Latvia to the Swedish island in Gotland.
A ship beating the Norwegian and Russian crew pavilion, which the authorities initially suspected to be involved in the damage of an optical fiber-fiber-fiber cable connecting Latvia to the Swedish Island of Gotland, has been released.
Norwegian police said at the end of the day that no discovery had made it possible to connect the ship, the Silver Dania, “at the act”.
“The Tromsø police district has taken a certain number of investigation measures and has obtained what it deemed necessary given the request for Latvia. The investigation will continue, but we do not see any reason for the Ship remains at Tromsø¸ longer, “the Tromsø police lawyer Ronny Jorgensen said on Friday at the end of the day.
The Silver Dania was arrested Thursday evening and brought to the port of Tromsø¸ in northern Norway on Friday morning by a Norwegian coast guard ship for inspection. The Norwegian coast guard indicated that they had acted following a request from the Latvian authorities and a decision of a Norwegian court.
The police had then declared that the ship was suspected, which sailed between the Russian ports of Saint Petersburg and Mourmansk at the time of its arranged, to have been involved in a serious damage of cable discovered last weekend in Baltic Sea.
The authorities did not give more details, but indicated that they trampled the ship and made interrogations.
TORMOD FOSSMARK, CEO of the company Silversea, owner of the ship, denied that the ship caused damage when it sailed in the cable area and said that the company cooperated with the authorities on what it considered as a “serious” affair.
“We are absolutely not involved in this case,” Fossmark told the Associated Press. “We did not throw anchor and we did nothing, which will be confirmed today,” he added, referring to the investigation.
He stressed that the ship’s monitoring data showed no irregularity on his trip.
Mr. Fossmark said he hoped that the ship, which did not carry any cargo, would be able to continue its journey later in the day.
Damage to the data transmission cable connecting Ventspils, in Latvia, in Gotland were detected on Sunday. Later in the day, Swedish prosecutors announced the opening of a preliminary investigation into suspicion of sabotage and ordered the immobilization of a ship suspected of having damaged the cable, the Vezhen, beating Maltese pavilion.
The Bulgarian owner of the ship said it was possible that the Vezhen accidentally caused the break of a cable, but rejected any possibility of sabotage or any other action from the crew.
Additional sources • Adaptation: Serge Duchêne
