Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 16, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 27, 2026
Add as preferred source on Google
Finnish customs will not investigate the Eagle S crew for Russian fuel cargo due to lack of intent, though the cargo remains detained.
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Finland's customs office said on Thursday it had no grounds to pursue a criminal investigation against the crew of the Eagle S oil tanker over the ship's Russian fuel cargo.
Finnish police last month seized the tanker and said they suspected the vessel had damaged a Finnish-Estonian power line and four telecoms cables by dragging its anchor across the seabed.
The customs office has separately impounded the cargo of unleaded petrol and diesel, and reiterated on Thursday that these are classified as products subject to sanctions against Russia.
But as the ship entered Finnish territorial waters at the request of Finnish authorities, the crew could not be considered to have intentionally violated the sanctions legislation, the customs office said in a statement.
"The cargo of the ship will remain detained by Finnish Customs for the time being," it added.
(Reporting by Anne Kauranen, editing by Louise Breusch Rasmussen and Terje Solsvik)
Finnish customs stated they had no grounds to pursue a criminal investigation against the crew of the Eagle S, as the crew could not be considered to have intentionally violated sanctions legislation.
The cargo included unleaded petrol and diesel, which are classified as products subject to sanctions against Russia.
Finnish police seized the tanker after it was suspected of damaging a Finnish-Estonian power line and four telecoms cables by dragging its anchor across the seabed.
The cargo of the ship will remain detained by Finnish Customs for the time being.
The article was reported by Anne Kauranen and edited by Louise Breusch Rasmussen and Terje Solsvik.
Explore more articles in the Finance category
