Estonia detains ship heading for Russia suspected of smuggling

COPENHAGEN, Feb ⁠4 (Reuters) - Estonia's ⁠Tax ‍and Customs Board said late on Tuesday it had ‍detained a container ship sailing under ​the Bahamian flag in Estonia's internal waters ​that may be linked to smuggling from Ecuador.

"There is reason to believe that the vessel ​may have been used for smuggling," the authority said in a ​statement.

"The police special unit K-Commando boarded the ship, after ‌which the vessel was detained under national supervision for the ​purpose of carrying out ⁠a customs inspection".

The ship, named Baltic Spirit, was en route from ‌Ecuador to St. Petersburg in Russia and is not part of the Russian ‌shadow fleet nor is it subject to ‌European Union sanctions, they added.

The Bahamas-flagged refrigerated container vessel was anchored near Tallinn on Wednesday, ‍having traveled there from a port in Colombia, according ⁠to ship tracking service MarineTraffic.

(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen and Andrius Sytas in Vilnius, editing by Terje Solsvik and Louise Rasmussen)

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