Swedish security services said they were aware of an incident that occurred on Sunday.
Attempted sabotage on the Baltic Sea island of Gotland might have targeted its water supply over the weekend, according to Swedish police.
A spokesperson for the security services confirmed an incident was reported on Sunday, the domestic press reported.
The head of the island’s water and sewage system said that the island’s pump system was tampered with.
“They have broken open a bronze cap that supplies the raw water pumps with power and sabotaged it so that the pumps stopped,” Susanne Bjergegaard-Pettersson told Aftonbladet newspaper.
Gotland is Sweden’s largest island located in the Baltic Sea. Last week, an internet cable was severed off the island — the latest in a string of incidents involving cables in the region that have raised concerns of possible Russian sabotage and spying.
Late last month, authorities discovered damage to an undersea fibre-optic cable running between the Latvian city of Ventspils and Gotland. A vessel belonging to a Bulgarian shipping company was seized but then released after the prosecutor ruled out sabotage.
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has sounded the alarm over such incidents, posting on X last week that the government takes all reports of damage to infrastructure in the Baltic Sea seriously.
“They must be seen in the light of the serious security situation that exists,” Kristersson said.
The country announced in January that it would be bolstering its military presence in the Baltic Sea by deploying three warships and a radar reconnaissance aircraft.
The warships would be placed under NATO control and would monitor the Baltic Sea for potential sabotage, a government statement said.
