According to the Belgian Maritime Security unit (CMB), over the last six months in the North Sea, several non-military ships have been spotted that may be involved in espionage. This was reported by the government agency to the Belgian public broadcaster VRT.
A representative of CMB stated that “at least five merchant or fishing vessels passed by, and we suspect there may be more.” The representative did not specify which countries are involved. According to CMB, it is difficult to determine whether a ship is indeed engaging in dual-use activities. This is partly because almost all military ships are no longer used for espionage.
Stories of potential spy ships in Europe or beyond have been circulating for some time. A notable example is the Russian fishing vessel “Taurus,” which, according to Finnish broadcaster Yle, entered a Norwegian port 51 times, but only 34 of those instances involved the ship carrying fish.
The ships have also been observed mapping seabed infrastructure multiple times, and there have been reports of maps onboard allegedly containing information about gas pipelines and internet cables.
Journalists from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland joined forces and produced a documentary film about this issue last year.
