On December 26, suspected of having knowingly damaged the Estlink 2 interconnector, linking Finland to Estonia, by leaving its anchor dragging, the tanker Eagle S, flying the flag of the Cook Islands, was boarded by the Finnish coast guard, as part of an investigation opened for “aggravated sabotage”.
Owned by the company Caravella LLCFZ, established in the United Arab Emirates, and operated by the Indian company Peninsular Maritim, the Eagle S is also suspected of being part of the “ghost fleet” of tankers used by Russia to export its hydrocarbons despite the international sanctions.
After setting sail from St. Petersburg, this ship was to go to Port Said [Égypte]. Currently, it is immobilized in Finnish territorial waters, off the coast of Porkkalaniemi, under the surveillance of the patrol vessel Turva.
If it had not been possible for Swedish investigators to carry out a search on board the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3, also suspected of having damaged two submarine telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea, last month, the local police was able to speak to the crew of the Eagle S and collect “evidence”, according to Robin Lardot, the director of the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation.
That being said, Lloyd’s List magazine has been interested in the Eagle S for several months now. In June, a source who refused to be identified for security reasons provided him with sixty confidential documents relating to this tanker. And it appeared that the latter suffered from serious deficiencies likely to harm the environment and endanger its crew.
Since then, this source has provided other details. Thus, according to Lloyd’s List, the Eagle S would have been equipped with “transmission and reception devices” in order to make it a “spy ship” on behalf of Russia.
“The high-tech equipment on board was anomalous for a merchant ship and it consumed more power than its generator could produce, leading to repeated power outages,” writes Lloyd’s List.
Listening and recording devices as well as “many portable computers” with keyboards in Russian and Turkish were part of this equipment. “The transmitting and receiving devices were used to record all radio frequencies and, once they arrived in Russia, they were unloaded for analysis,” says the British magazine. In addition, she continues, “sensors” would have been dropped by the Eagle S in the Channel.
A priori, the ship would have left Saint Petersburg without the spy equipment entrusted to it. On the other hand, Lloyd’s List claims that listening devices were installed on board the Switsea Rider, another tanker in the “ghost fleet”, flying the flag of Honduras.
It remains to be seen whether the Finnish police will be able to confirm these allegations. For the moment, she has not made any comment. To facilitate investigations, the Eagle S must be towed to the port of Kilpilahti on December 28.
