TRAFICOM, the Finnish transport and communications agency, on Thursday began a port state control inspection of Cook Islands-flagged Eagle S (IMO: 9329760) tanker, seized by that country’s police eight days ago for suspected sabotage of the Estlink 2 undersea electricity cable and damaging four others on Christmas Day.

“We will conduct the inspection in a way that does not disrupt the police operation and investigation,” the agency said in a press release cited by Finnish press.

“The inspection will take into account the workload of the crew. We will report on the results of the inspection when the inspection is complete.”

Lloyd’s List confirmed the inspection with Traficom, but could not secure further details.

Police on Wednesday imposed travel bans on seven crew from the Russia-linked, sanctions-evading dark fleet* vessel, as part of a criminal investigation into aggravated interference of communications and aggravated criminal mischief  by the National Bureau of Investigation. A travel ban was imposed on an eighth crew member on Thursday, Finnish media reported.

Previously police have referenced the tanker having “more than 20 crew” who were Georgia and Indian nationals.

The panamax tanker is now anchored in the inner anchorage of Svartbeck near the oil port of Kilpilahti in Porvoo, police said.

Submarine investigations by Finland police found Eagle S dragged its anchor for “dozens of kilometres” along the seabed where the cable was damaged.

In July, Lloyd’s List reported Eagle S was found with multiple serious deficiencies compromising environmental and crew safety after a tanker vetting inspection in waters off Skaagen, Denmark, the prior month.

The 20-year-old tanker, used solely to ship sanctioned Russian oil, then switched class mid-voyage to the Indian Register of Shipping to avoid an unscheduled survey into its poor condition after more than 20 technical deficiencies were uncovered by the vetting inspector.

The ship last underwent a port state control inspection in Tema, Ghana, in September 2023, two months after it was bought by its anonymous owner, Dubai-based Caravella LLC-FZ, a single-ship company that claims its address at the business centre of a five-star hotel in the city.

That inspection found 24 deficiencies.

Helsinki police department and the country’s Border Guard, using defence helicopters, seized the vessel on December 26 and took it into Finnish territorial waters following the cable rupture, the third suspected sabotage of Baltic undersea infrastructure in 14 months.

Finland maritime lawyer Herman Ljungberg applied to the Helsinki district court on December 30 to overturn the seizure order. He said the vessel was not built for winter conditions and it was not safe for the crew or the vessel to remain in Finland’s icy waters, where it is now under police and naval guard, while the investigation continues.

That case will now be heard in the court on Friday afternoon.

Finland police said the investigation would take “several weeks”.

Lloyd’s List exclusively revealed last week that Eagle S, along with a related tanker, UK-sanctioned Swiftsea Rider (IMO: 9318539), had been fitted with listening and receiving devices to spy on Nato naval ships and aircraft, citing a source providing commercial services to the vessel as recently as seven months ago.

* Lloyd’s List defines a tanker as part of the dark fleet if it is aged 15 years or over, anonymously owned and/or has a corporate structure designed to obfuscate beneficial ownership discovery, solely deployed in sanctioned oil trades, and engaged in one or more of the deceptive shipping practices outlined in US State Department guidance issued in May 2020. The figures exclude tankers tracked to government-controlled shipping entities such as Russia’s Sovcomflot, or Iran’s National Iranian Tanker Co, and those already sanctioned.

Download our explainer on the different risk profiles of the dark fleet here