Sweden intercepts Bulgarian ship over damaged Baltic cable

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00:00Under the dark of the night sky the Swedish Coast Guard climbed aboard the

00:04Wesen, a Maltese flagged ship owned by a Bulgarian company which was sailing in

00:10the Baltic Sea. They were there to seize the carrier on suspicion of aggravated

00:15sabotage after a large cable was damaged on Sunday between the Swedish island

00:21Gotland and Ventspils in Latvia. The underwater fiber-optic cable belongs to

00:26Latvia's state broadcaster. The country's Prime Minister said it was working with

00:31Sweden to find answers. So we are in contact with both NATO and the Baltic

00:37Sea countries and together we are cooperating in the investigation. The

00:40state police has initiated criminal proceedings after the fact because of

00:44course we are currently in a situation where the facts are still being

00:47clarified. The CEO of the Bulgarian company Navibolga denied sabotage. He

00:54said that the ship which was carrying fertilizer from a Russian port to South

00:57America encountered bad weather conditions over the weekend and that the

01:02crew had noticed one of its anchors had dropped in the sea and had possibly

01:06dragged along the floor. It is possible that the ship had caused that

01:13problem with the cable but in my opinion there is absolutely no way we're talking

01:18about an act of sabotage on behalf of our crew. The Latvian Navy was then

01:25deployed to the area and identified two other suspect vessels. For months damage

01:31to strategic infrastructure has been increasing in the Baltic Sea. At the end

01:36of December a power cable and four telecommunication cables were damaged.

01:40While there are still some gray areas surrounding the incidents, Moscow which

01:45is involved in oil trafficking and GPS jamming in the Baltic has drawn suspicion.

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