Finland cable breaches caused by construction, not crime, authorities say

HELSINKI (Reuters) -Finland said on Tuesday that a breach of two separate land-based fibre-optic internet cables was believed to have been caused by construction work, not a criminal act.

Police in the Nordic region and beyond are currently on high alert in the wake of recent breaches of two undersea fibre-optic communications cables in the Baltic Sea, which raised suspicions of potential sabotage.

The latest damage, which occurred at two separate locations on Monday, appeared to have been caused by excavation work, police said in a statement. “There is no reason to suspect criminal activity in the two cable damage incidents,” it said.

Finnish Transport and Communications Minister Lulu Ranne also said the breaches appeared to be accidental, as did the government communications agency Traficom.

Both cables were repaired by early afternoon on Tuesday, Traficom said.

The cable breaks occurred on a line that connects Finland and its western neighbour Sweden, a spokesperson for the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority said.

(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen, Louise Breusch Rasmussen, Johan Ahlander, Elviira Luoma and Anne Kauranen; editing by Terje Solsvik, Ed Osmond and Mark Heinrich)