Estonia stops Russia-bound ship on smuggling suspicions

"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 ship's crew consists of 23 citizens of Russia, and they did not offer any resistance, the authority said.

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