Police in Finland have detained a cargo ship and its crew suspected of breaking two undersea data cables in Estonia’s exclusive economic zone in the Gulf of Finland, ERR reports. Finnish telecommunications operator Elisa detected a fault in its data cable in the early morning hours of 31 December 2025. Estonia’s Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs announced that the second damaged cable is owned by Swedish telecommunications company Arelion. The Finnish Border Guard intercepted and took control of the vessel, having observed that the ship’s anchor had been lowered into the sea. Police are investigating the incident as aggravated criminal damage, attempted aggravated criminal damage, and aggravated interference with telecommunications. Helsingin Sanomat reported that the vessel, Fitburg, was en route from Russia’s port of Saint Petersburg to Haifa in Israel. According to MarineTraffic, the ship is owned by Seychelles-registered Fitburg Shipping and currently registered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Finnish police indicated that the ship’s 14-man crew are Russian, Georgian, Kazakhstani, and Azerbaijani nationals, YLE reported.
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