Sweden’s elite armed police used helicopter to board suspected sabotage ship

Swedish authorities have confirmed that an elite armed police unit used a helicopter on Sunday to board a ship suspected of sabotaging a communications cable in the Baltic Sea.

The Vezhen, a cargo ship owned by the Bulgarian shipping company Navibulgar, has now been seized and detained at an anchorage point near the port of Karlskrona, where the Swedish military has a major naval base.

Officers from Sweden’s National Task Force, similar to the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team, can be seen dropping to the ship’s deck in a video released by the Swedish police on Tuesday. Additional police can be seen boarding the ship by boat, with police dogs also involved in the preliminary search.

The investigation into the cable-breaking incident is being led by Sweden’s Security Service (SÄPO). The country’s public broadcaster SVT reported that the boarding was intended to secure both the vessel and its crew as part of SÄPO’s investigation.

Images of the Vezhen appear to show it carrying a damaged anchor, which Swedish authorities say is part of their investigation into the cable break.

Navibulgar’s chief executive, Aleksander Kalchev, has denied that the ship was engaged in sabotage and claimed that bad weather could have been behind one of the ship’s anchors dropping to the seabed.

Kalchev told Reuters that the ship’s crew had initially been held at gunpoint by the National Task Force officers, adding that the company has instructed them to assist the authorities and that the situation has “calmed down.”

Sweden’s meteorological institute disputed Kalchev’s claim about bad weather, noting that both the wind and waves were not high at the time of the cable break.

Few additional details are available regarding the ongoing investigation. Sweden’s senior public prosecutor, Mats Ljungqvist, said on Sunday: “We are now carrying out a number of concrete investigative measures, but I cannot go into what they consist of due to the ongoing preliminary investigation.

“Several authorities, including the National Police Operations Department, the Coast Guard and the Armed Forces, are involved in the investigation. I can state that Swedish authorities are now working intensively and jointly to investigate this incident,” he added.

It follows heightened concern regarding disruptions to subsea infrastructure in the wake of another incident in the Baltic Sea on Christmas Day, when a ship called the Eagle S dragged its anchor for almost 100 kilometers (62 miles) severing a number of cables.

Authorities in Finland seized the Eagle S, which was also boarded by armed officers via helicopter, and said last week they suspect the damage was done intentionally. Those comments followed reports citing anonymous intelligence officials that the cable breakages were assessed to be accidents rather than acts of sabotage.

The Eagle S is alleged to have been previously used as a Russian spy ship and to be part of what Western countries describe as Russia’s “shadow fleet” — a collection of up to 1,000 vessels with opaque ownership structures that sail under flags of convenience to export sanctioned Russian goods, particularly oil.

Navibulgar is 70% owned by a Bulgarian real estate company called Advance Properties. Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported that the Vezhen is a Chinese-owned ship. Advance Properties did not respond to an emailed enquiry from Recorded Future News regarding the other 30% ownership in Navibulgar.

Earlier this month, NATO allies bordering the Baltic Sea, including Sweden and Latvia, issued a statement warning they reserved the right to take action against Russian ships that threaten submarine infrastructure. The alliance also announced Baltic Sentry, described as “new military activity” to “enhance NATO's military presence in the Baltic Sea.”