Finnish police have arrested two crew members of a ship suspected of damaging an undersea telecommunications cable and continue to interview others.

The Fitburg, which has a crew of 14 — reportedly from Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan — was seized on Wednesday while transiting through Finland’s exclusive economic zone.

It was boarded by investigators on suspicion of aggravated criminal damage, attempted aggravated criminal damage, and aggravated interference with telecommunications.

Alongside the two arrested crew members, another pair from the ship were placed under a travel ban. All four were initially interviewed on Thursday with police saying additional interviews are continuing on Friday.

“The interviews have clarified the course of events and the different roles of the crew members,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Risto Lohi, leading the investigation for Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation.

The Fitburg was seized on New Year’s Eve amid a spate of cable faults detected in the Baltic Sea, the majority of which the Estonian Ministry of Justice attributed to recent stormy weather. 

However, damage to a telecommunications cable operated by Finnish company Elisa, running through Estonia’s exclusive economic zone, is suspected to have been caused by the cargo ship as it transited through.

The investigating authorities are conducting crime scene work on the seabed near the damaged cable. The operation is being led by Finland’s Border Guard patrol vessel Turva, with support from the National Bureau of Investigation, the Gulf of Finland Coast Guard, and the Finnish Defence Forces.

Investigators said they are using underwater robots, side-scan sonar and multi-beam echo sounders to map the seafloor and confirm the cause of the cable break, alongside investigations of the ship’s equipment.

The Fitburg itself is being held in an unspecified port in Finland and remains under Finnish control.

The cargo ship was transporting sanctioned steel products from Russia to Israel, according to Finnish Customs, which said it was investigating how to apply European Union sanctions in this case.

The seizure comes more than a year after Finnish armed police detained the Eagle S, a Russia-linked oil tanker that damaged multiple cables on Christmas Day 2024. An attempt to prosecute the ship’s senior officers collapsed amid legal rulings disputing Finland’s jurisdiction over the case.

In that case, the Eagle S was carrying unleaded petrol and diesel from Russia, activity also sanctioned by the European Union, but was allowed to continue on its way as the cargo was being transferred outside of the EU.