Alleged Russian espionage ship moored in Rotterdam days before raid by German police
A ship with a Russian crew that sails under the flag of the small Caribbean island nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is currently the focus of a Russian espionage investigation in Germany. The ship, the Scanlark, was moored in Rotterdam shortly before the authorities raided it in Germany on Sunday, AD reports.
On Sunday, September 7, 40 officers from a special German police unit boarded and raided the 74-meter freighter in a lock in Kiel after observing the ship for months. They found five Russian-speaking men on board, as well as 360-degree cameras and GPS antennas. The German authorities seized the suspicious items and are investigating the ship for “espionage activity with sabotage as the objective.”
The German Public Prosecutor suspects the Scanlark of not being a freight vessel, but a Russian espionage ship and a mobile base station for drone operations, AD wrote based on reports in German media. On August 26, a drone was reportedly launched from the deck and flew over a German frigate at the Kiel naval base, presumably to gather information. According to the local prosecutor, the drone “produced security-threatening images of military installations.”
According to AD, the Scanlark was docked in Rotterdam in the days before the raid in Kiel. It was moored in the Waalhaven and Botlek harbors between September 2 and 5. The Port Authority told the newspaper that it noticed no suspicious navigation movements or other suspicious activity during that time.
Shipping data showed that the Scanlark also previously moored in Moerdijk, Dordrecht, and along the Parkkade in Rotterdam, among other places in the Nehterlands.
The German police made no arrests and did not seize the Scanlark. But because the authorities confiscated navigation systems for investigation, the Scanlark is unseaworthy and stuck in Germany until the necessary equipment has been replaced and safety inspections have been completed. It is unclear when this will happen.
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