Police in Tromso, Northern Norway, previously said that the cargo ship Silver Dania was seized at the request of Latvian authorities and with the help of the Norwegian Coast Guard, Reuters reported Saturday.

"The investigation will continue, but we see no reason for the ship to remain in Tromso any longer," the police said in a statement. "No findings have been made linking the ship to the act [of damaging the subsea cable]."

The owner of the vessel, the shipping group Silver Sea, denied the Silver Dania's involvement in the incident, Norwegian broadcaster TV2 reported.

Sweden and Latvia are continuing to investigate the suspected sabotage of an undersea fiber optic telecommunications cable between the two countries on Sunday.

On Monday, Swedish authorities seized and boarded the Chinese-owned and Maltese-flagged cargo ship Vezhen on suspicion it had caused the damage.

The head of the Vezhen's operator, the Bulgarian shipping company Navigation Maritime Bulgare, stated Monday that the vessel may have struck the cable with its anchor, but denied any malicious intent.

Mats Ljungqvist, the prosecutor leading Sweden's investigation, said on Friday that they had examined the Norwegian ship before ruling out its involvement in the incident.

Baltic Sea on high alert

The Baltic Sea region remains on high alert following a string of undersea power cable, telecom link and gas pipeline outages in the region since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

NATO has recently boosted its presence on the Baltic Sea, deploying frigates, aircraft and naval drones to the region.

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