The captain of the Hong Kong-flagged container ship has been detained on suspicion of disrupting a vital gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea between Estonia and Finland two years ago, SCMP reported.
Newnew Polar Bear's captain Wan Wenguo, 43, a Chinese mother of three, appeared in court at the Eastern Court in Hong Kong (China) on May 8 to face one criminal sabotage charge and two local maritime law violations during Newnew Polar Bear's trip from October to December 2023.
Prosecutors allege that the Newnew Polar Bear captain was responsible for damages to the 77-km Balticconnector gas pipeline as well as a telecommunications cable in the Baltic Sea when the cargo ship passed through the Gulf of Finland on October 8, 2023. Balticconnector is an important natural gas pipeline for Finland.
The prosecutors also accused the Wan Wenguo captain of violating maritime safety protocols by not ensuring the ship had sufficient anchorage and not reporting daily to the ship owner, violating two regulations under the Ordinance on Safety of Maritime Transport.
The next trial of the captain of the Newnew Polar Bear in the Balticconnector pipeline failure is scheduled to take place in early July.
Captain Wan Wenguo continues to be detained after being confirmed in court that he did not apply abroad.
According to Yle, the National Bureau of Finnish (NBI) confirmed on September 9 that cooperation with the Chinese government in the investigation of the BalticConnector gas pipeline was still happening. However, this agency did not disclose whether whether it was aware of the legal procedures with the captain of the ship in Hong Kong (China).
"Mutual legal support-based cooperation includes several meetings and information exchanges to clarify events between the parties. Any investigation measures related to the procedures conducted by the Chinese and Hong Kong (China) authorities must be notified by competent authorities themselves" - said Finnish police inspector Risto Lohi.
The preliminary investigation into the Balticconnector gas pipeline failure is still being conducted by a joint investigation team between Finland and Estonia.
Wall Street Journal said, on October 7, 2023, Newnew Polar Bear container leaving Russia's Kaliningrad port on the Baltic Sea and moving north. The ship crossed the BalticConnector pipeline at the same time as the pipe was broken. Then the ship arrived at the port of St. Petersburg of Russia, before walking around Norway to Arkhangelsk port north of Russia.
In the investigation into the Balticconnector gas pipeline break, Finnish investigators found that the pipeline was cut by the anchor of the Newnew Polar Bear.
The Wall Street Journal noted that immediately after discovering the Balticconnector pipeline broken, Finnish authorities identified the Newnew Polar Bear as the suspect but could not investigate because the incident occurred in international waters.
The BalticConnector pipeline connects the gas systems of Finland and Estonia. The total length of this pipeline is 151 km, of which 77 km of pipeline is located at the bottom of the Gulf of Finland. The power of the BalticConnector pipeline is 2.6 billion cubic meters of gas/year.
The Balticconnector gas pipeline resumed operation in April 2024 after a period of repair. The repair of the pipeline cost around €35 million.
