Swedish Coast Guard boards suspected stateless ship in the Baltic Sea

The Swedish Coast Guard said it boarded and took control of a suspected stateless vessel in Swedish waters of the Baltic Sea on Friday, and it was carrying out investigations on the ship.

"At 15:50 today, the coast guard took control of a vessel with unclear flag status and thus suspected of being a stateless vessel," it said in a statement, adding that the boarding had taken place off the coast of the southern Swedish town Trelleborg.

The ship Caffa was sailing under a Guinean flag, but the coast guard said it regarded the vessel to be stateless, "based on national and international legislation". Swedish police said the ship was suspected of sailing under a false flag.