Sweden blocks off Nord Stream area for investigation
Sweden blocks off Nord Stream area for investigation.
Stockholm, The Gulf Observer: Swedish prosecutors said Monday that they had decided to block off the area around the Nord Stream pipeline leaks in the Baltic Sea while the suspected sabotage is being investigated.
To further the investigation into “aggravated sabotage,” the prosecutor in charge had decided “to block off the Nord Stream area in order to do a crime scene investigation,” the Swedish Prosecution Authority said in a statement.
“The investigation continues; we are at an intensive stage,” public prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said.
“I understand the considerable public interest, but we are in the early stages of a preliminary investigation, and I can therefore not comment on details about which investigatory measures we are taking.”
Sweden’s coastguard announced that it had started enforcing the prosecutor’s decision to ban access within five nautical miles (9.26 kilometers) of the pipeline on Monday.
“The prohibition means a ban on driving ships, anchoring, diving, fishing, driving underwater vehicles or carrying out geophysical mapping,” the coastguard said.
Discovered on September 26, all four of the leaks are in the Baltic Sea off the Danish island of Bornholm.
Two of the leaks are in the Swedish exclusive economic zone, and the other two are in the Danish zone.
