Estonia stops Russia-bound ship on smuggling suspicions

The Estonian Tax and Customs Board has detained a container ship sailing under the Bahamian flag in Estonia’s internal waters on suspicion that it may be linked to smuggling from Ecuador.

“There are reasons to believe that the ship may have been used for smuggling,” the official said in a statement.

“Police special unit K-Commando boarded the ship and the ship was subsequently detained under national surveillance for customs inspection.”

The ship named Baltic Spirit was sent from Ecuador to St. Petersburg in Russia. They added that it was headed for St. Petersburg and was not part of the Russian stay-behind fleet and was not subject to European Union sanctions.

The official said that the ship’s crew consisted of 23 Russian citizens and they did not show any resistance.

The Bahamas-flagged refrigerated container ship arrived here from a port in Colombia and docked near Tallinn on Wednesday, according to ship tracking service MarineTraffic.