Original subtitles

I'm Stephen Davis, an investigative journalist from New Zealand.

I've have worked all over the world, in newspapers and television.

My investigations cover a lot of topics, but they all have one thing in common:

Governments, corporations or the rich and powerful covering things up.

That's what drives me, the people who've been lied to or not given answers.

They're desperate to find out one thing, and that's the truth.

It's clear to me there was a major cover-up

following the sinking of the Estonia.

During my investigation into the sinking, I discovered the existence of this treaty

which covered the burial site.

The governments of Estonia, Finland and Sweden agree

that this is to be regarded as a burial site,

and therefore it is a crime to dive down to the wreck.

The treaty was signed by Baltic nations, and also strangely by the UK,

which is not a Baltic nation.

It's ridiculous that they signed the treaty, pretending to be a Baltic nation.

I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the British government

to find out why the treaty was signed, and I got completely stonewalled.

Why did the British sign the treaty to prevent exploration of the ferry?

Tonight, we look at the strange journey of Richard Tomlinson.

The boy from Ngāruawāhia who became a spy

and ended up a man without a country.

Living in exile in the south of France,

unable to return to New Zealand, and a wanted man in Britain.

Richard Tomlinson was an MI6 agent who had been sacked

in mysterious circumstances by the intelligence agency.

You must know things they don't want you to talk about.

The more they've harassed me, the more it's been built up in the minds

of the media, the public and, more dangerously, other police forces.

I always realized he knew lots of secrets, but didn't expect him to disclose any.

The British government had put him in a position where he was angry and upset.

He had something to tell me.

I discovered that he had a New Zealand passport.

He was New Zealand-born.

What we arranged for him to do, was to go to Paris

and then use his New Zealand passport

to get a plane from Paris to Auckland, New Zealand, where I would meet him.

He said to me: "Are you aware of this?"

And he pulled out a document from his briefcase and handed it to me.

It was a document about the sinking of the ferry Estonia.

He asked if I was familiar with the story, and I said I knew about it,

but asked what it had to do with them.

He said that I should look into the story.

"We were involved in a smuggling operation on the Estonia."

"There's more to this than meets the eye. You should investigate it."

I asked if he meant MI6, and he said: "Yes, MI6."

After six and a half years in power,

Mikhail Gorbachev confirmed his resignation on television tonight.

The symbol of the old administration was removed.

The red flag was replaced by the Russian banner

at the very moment Gorbachev officially became

the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union.

I was lucky enough that I came of age

at the time when Estonia regained its independence.

It was like a fever. People were euphoric.

The most iconic event was this chain made of people holding hands.

This chain started in Tallinn and extended to the capital of Lithuania.

If I say that it was a big thing, I'm underestimating it, obviously.

They call it "The Singing Revolution"

because there were a lot of big, rally-type meetings

with hundreds of thousands of people coming together.

And it involved a lot of singing.

We were again on the map, so to speak. We were taken seriously.

We were now, suddenly, again masters of our own land.

In 1991, I was appointed Sweden's, or not just Sweden's,

but the very first ambassador to Estonia.

It was mere days after Estonia had regained its independence.

The country relied heavily on ferry traffic.

The demand for both passenger and vehicle capacity

was higher than what was available.

The search for a new vessel resulted in what was christened the Estonia.

This vessel was crucial in Estonia quickly finding its feet as a country.

Many people got their first experience with Western society

on board the Estonia.

Many people saw, for instance, oysters in the buffet

or pineapples for the first time.

You would step on board the Estonia,

and you would basically step into the West and the capitalist society.

Naming the vessel after the country,

showed how important it was to Estonia.

After the liberation of the Baltic nations,

we were asked to discontinue the Soviet bases.

That meant a lot of weaponry and military equipment,

of Soviet and Russian origin,

suddenly had to be moved, and a lot of it got lost.

It's described as resembling the Wild West.

It was sold, bought and moved out of the country.

No one really kept track of where the weaponry and material went.

The situation stirred up interest in Sweden and the West,

who also wanted to get their hands on these sought-after Soviet weapons.

When the Estonians finally got their freedom,

they were very concerned about how long that freedom would last.

They turned to the West for help.

They wanted the West to see them

as a country that deserved protection against Russia.

Their first priority was to set up a good intelligence service.

They turned to MI6 to help them found their new intelligence agency.

The MI6 already had a long-term relationship with Swedish intelligence.

It was natural for the Swedes and the Estonians to get together with MI6

and run operations against Russia.

You got stuff out of Russia, brought it into Estonia across the border.

You took it to the port, put it on a ship and offloaded it in Sweden.

It was a very successful route, which they used for a number of years.

The Estonian passenger ferry, the Estonia, with 867 passengers on board,

sank last night south-west of Finland.

The Estonia capsized and sank in just a few minutes.

How could this have happened?

The same day the Estonia sank,

rumours surfaced that it was being used to smuggle military equipment.

THE FERRY TRAGEDY: WHY IT SANK

THE RUSSIANS BLEW UP THE ESTONIA

The authorities dismissed this as mere conspiracy theories.

The cargo had no connection with the accident.

I knew straight away that if we could push the issue of the Estonia being used

to smuggle top secret, possibly Soviet or Russian, military equipment,

that would have been a big deal.

On the 10th anniversary of the accident, I received an email

from a man named Lennart Henriksson, Chief of Customs at Värtahamnen port,

the arrival port of the Estonia and other ferries.

He said he had something to tell me.

A few weeks before the accident, he was called into his manager's office,

and they went to see his manager's boss,

the Regional Chief of Customs in Stockholm.

He told them that vehicles would be arriving soon

which were to be granted access without being checked.

"Without checking?", I asked. "Who said that?"

"That's an order", I was told. "From the very top."

"What top?", I asked. "As high up as you can get", he said.

I asked: "From the King?" He said: "No, not the King, but very high up."

The first vehicle arrived on the 14th of September,

two weeks before the accident.

We were notified that one of the vehicles was on its way,

and we were to let it in without checking it.

He went down to the ferry terminal, the ferry arrived.

He saw the vehicle that was not to be checked,

and he still took a peek inside.

I informed him of the Customs control.

He looked at me, but didn't ask questions.

I told him I'd look inside the vehicle.

I saw some boxes

and what appeared to be military electronics inside the boxes.

On September 20th, Henriksson said it happened a second time.

He was notified of another vehicle he was to let through.

He said it was a larger vehicle, about twice as much cargo

as the first time, but as far as he could tell, it was the same type of cargo.

He was on holiday on the day of the accident. He wasn't in Stockholm,

so he doesn't know if there was any cargo on board that night.

There rumours of military transport on the Estonia had not been confirmed.

Yet I was sitting with a man who could confirm that this was happening

just a short time before the accident.

In the weeks before the Estonia sank ten years ago,

the ferry was used for secret transport of military equipment.

It's now been confirmed that military equipment

was transported on the Estonia.

We are involved in state missions which are somewhat secret.

It's only natural that we carry out these kinds of missions.

This is part of one of those missions, so I can't comment on it.

We want to know what happened.

We are just as surprised as everyone else by this news.

It's remarkable and shocking.

Normally, military transport is governed by rigorous rules in public society.

Here, the military clearly used a civilian passenger ferry

to transport military cargo.

It's absolutely unacceptable to smuggle military cargo on a civilian ferry.

You're blatantly putting civilians in jeopardy.

The public were outraged.

The government started investigating whether this had happened.

In the past, whenever these kinds of allegations surfaced,

they were always rejected.

Therefore, the government has decided to call on Johan Hirschfeldt

and task him with investigating the entire month of September 1994,

to find out if such transports took place on board the Estonia.

Cabinet minister Mona Sahlin, who dealt with the Estonia case, was very upset.

When I interviewed her, she was clearly shaken by the fact

that there had been secret transports of military equipment

on board the Estonia

around the time of the accident, without the military reporting it.

People from customs and the military were obviously aware of details

that were essential for the investigation and the bereaved,

but they didn't say anything.

THE CURSE OF THE ESTONIA

THE REPORT RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ESTONIA DISASTER

The interview with Swedish television by Lennart Henriksson

was a game changer, I would say.

The rumours that had been ridiculed for ten years,

suddenly had credibility.

Suddenly, this wasn't a fantasy.

In 2005, the Estonian government established the commission

to investigate the military smuggling affair on the Estonia.

I was appointed as chair of this commission.

At the beginning,

Swedish authorities promised to cooperate with our commission.

But when we went into detail of this secret operation,

they started sending us mixed messages.

In the end, I concluded that the information wasn't reliable.

To be honest, we found almost nothing.

We didn't find what it was, where it came from, et cetera.

This was very much because

the Swedish authorities were not willing to cooperate.

It's been concluded that the Swedish army on two occasions

in September 1994

transported military equipment on board the Estonia,

on the 14th and the 20th of September.

The cargo consisted of electronic equipment,

not related to weapon systems,

and in no form of an explosive nature.

The contents are confidential, as is the country of origin.

Only the Minister of Defence received that information.

The information is top secret and considered confidential.

As for the night the Estonia sank, the report concluded

there was no indication that the military transported anything.

I am very sure about that.

As you can tell from my wording in the document.

"There's no reason to believe they attempted to transport equipment."

Hirschfeldt concluded that the transports Henriksson spoke of,

from the 14th and the 20th of September, had in fact occurred.

The Swedish Armed Forces was responsible for them.

But he also concluded that there was no indication

of transport by the Swedish army on the night of the accident.

I was incredibly disappointed that this didn't result in anything.

Everything was swept under the rug,

despite Mona Sahlin's intentions to get to the bottom of this.

Hirschfeldt was known for his good memory,

and his investigation was very short and restricted.

When we later conducted a hearing in the Swedish Parliament,

we asked about the chain of command.

How and by whom was the customs officer ordered

to let in smuggled military cargo.

Hirschfeldt replied that he didn't remember,

and when asked about the evidence, which wasn't mentioned in the report,

he said he had burned the evidence.

- The evidence has not been stored. - Why not?

I chose not to submit the evidence, only the report.

What's the reason for that?

I concluded that this was the correct way to conduct the investigation.

As far as I know, it has never happened before in Swedish history

that a government investigation destroys the evidence.

You wouldn't come to that conclusion on your own.

Someone must have explicitly said that the evidence was to be destroyed.

It clearly indicates that the Armed Forces had no interest in solving the case.

No investigation of potential involvement of private companies,

nor of other countries' intelligence services. Nothing.

The report was accurate, but of no interest.

It confirms what the customs officer said, but without any regard for anything else.

It was like the Wild West in the new Baltic states,

with regards to military equipment, weaponry and such,

that was bought, sold and transported out the country.

One man who witnessed all this,

was the Swedish Military Attaché to the Baltics at the time, Sřren Lindman.

I can't rule out that goods from Russia were smuggled to Estonia, it wasn't hard,

and then shipped to Sweden,

possibly without the Swedish government's knowledge.

He wasn't aware of the two transports on the Estonia

just before the accident.

His conclusion was that it wasn't the regular Swedish intelligence

that organised these transports.

It must have been organized by the most secretive Swedish military intelligence.

If it was the regular Swedish intelligence,

he would have known about it, but he didn't.

It must have been the so-called KSI, the Office for Special Procurement,

Sweden's secret spy organisation.

This would explain the level of secrecy

surrounding the transports on board the Estonia,

if the KSI was involved.

Nothing could come out that might reveal details about KSI activities.

Did you cooperate with them?

I know that they existed.

Cooperation or not... I'll leave that open.

- Did you help them procure equipment? - I will not answer that question.

- We're talking about 1994. - Yes, I hear you.

- September 94. - Yes.

- Did you help procure equipment? - I will not answer that question.

The Estonia disaster is surrounded by so much secrecy and confidentiality.

In my opinion, that means they are scared of what the truth would reveal.

What we can be certain of about the 25 years since the night of the shipwreck,

is that the authorities have no interest in finding out

what was on board the Estonia's cargo deck when the ferry sank.

The biggest question mark is regarding the images

taken on October 2nd, four days after the shipwreck.

The images show that the railings from the loading ramp...

They are detached from the vessel, lying on the seabed.

Something is very wrong here.

I've been wondering a lot about why the railings are outside of the vessel.

It implies that someone tried to gain access to the cargo deck, but why?

It can only be a national army that wants to gain access to the vessel's cargo bay.

The only motivation for such actions,

is that there is cargo of utter national or military importance on board.

Nothing else.

During the interpellation debates that I initiated in the Swedish Parliament,

I hoped to push the matter of further answers and investigations.

You should be able to trust your army, your government,

that they'll do their best in such a situation.

If not, there is something fundamentally wrong with society.

Thank you. The images show very clearly

that someone has removed the railings from the loading ramp

just days after the shipwreck.

This is proof of activity that we didn't know about,

and that the Accident Commission did not find.

Why hasn't the minister taken measures to find out who this was?

What kind of activity was this, what was the purpose?

Thank you. Over to the minister.

Between the lines, Lars Ľngström claims that here stands a minister

who is knowingly trying to hide the truth.

It doesn't matter how many times I tell Lars Ľngström: "I'm not like that."

I know nothing about any other dives. Period.

Absolutely no other dives.

Based on what I have received, there are no grounds

on which to allow underwater operations on the wreck of the Estonia,

nor other actions to be taken regarding the wreck of the Estonia.

The minister's decision to do nothing, gives many people the impression

that the government is actively trying to hide facts

about the Armed Forces' activities in relation to the Estonia.

That doesn't feel right.

Not giving an answer can also be an answer.

Not wanting to find an answer, is also saying something.

There is every indication that the Swedish Armed Forces, or parts of it,

knew of the intrusion in the cargo bay

between September 28th and October 2nd.

We can only speculate why,

but we can assume it's something of great national or military interest.

I am convinced that the truth about what was in Estonia's cargo deck

on the night it sank will be revealed one day.

Over the years, I've developed good contacts in the intelligence services,

for one simple reason: They know they can trust me.

Tomlinson told me about the Estonia smuggling operation in 1998,

six years before the Swedish customs officer revealed it on TV.

So here I was, in a hotel room in Auckland,

thinking I was doing one sort of story,

and suddenly being handed information about a ferry that sank in the Baltic,

and about some smuggling operation involving British intelligence.

Needless to say, I decided at absolutely that point

that I would try to get to the bottom of this.

My further investigation led me to a new source,

an active MI6 officer,

who provided vital information about what really happened.

He told me there had been two clear warnings from Russia to the West,

to stop the smuggling operation on the Estonia.

The first warning, in 1993, went through diplomatic channels to the Estonians.

It said: "We know you are smuggling, putting things on the ferry."

"You need to stop." Apparently, the Estonians ignored the warning.

The next year, in close proximity to the sinking,

a second warning went directly to MI6.

"We know you are running a smuggling operation via the Estonia."

"You need to stop, or else..."

While Sweden and Estonia were grieving for the dead

who went down with the ferry in the Baltic,

behind closed doors in the intelligence offices, there was panic.

The Swedes have admitted there was a smuggling operation on the Estonia

in the weeks before the sinking.

My sources have confirmed that there was a smuggling operation

on the night the ferry sank.

What was being smuggled out,

was crucial information on the Russian ballistic missile programme

and some electronic parts related to the missile programme.

According to my MI6 source, the senior Swedish intelligence officer

would have told the Prime Minister:

"You have this idea about bringing the ferry up to investigate."

"That must never be allowed to happen."

During that time, things were a mess. There was practically no border control.

You could send any car, with anything, anywhere.

The police investigation reports I had access to,

confirm that the public version of what happened with the Estonia

is by no means true.

After I went on board,

I put all my things away, my bag and all that.

Then I walked around a bit, and I realized we were behind schedule.

I checked the time, and saw that the ferry was delayed.

So I went out onto the deck, to wave to my father.

I looked out over the parking lot.

They had put up barrier tape. I thought it was a construction site.

In one explanation of why the Estonia was delayed,

two or three trucks were sent to the port,

apparently by the Armed Forces, or people connected to the Armed Forces.

They were arguing. The police wouldn't let them on board.

The others, allegedly from the military, who arrived with the cargo,

said they were to be let on board.

I saw a transport arriving,

two or three motorcycles, or four, going quite fast,

escorting a military vehicle onto the boat.

I recall there being at least two, possibly more.

It was...

They were painted green, as it was military.

It was a vehicle with a large canopy,

or flatbed with a tarpaulin over.

Can you briefly explain what was inside those trucks?

On the two or three trucks, there are differing stories here,

there was military technology. Military electronics.

It was, at the time,

brand new military technology.

In the Russian military, there were many top secret things.

So secret, in fact, that if anything was lost,

or if anything was left in foreign territory,

measures were taken to ensure it didn't end up in the hands of another country.

Once they were on board, the ship was prepared for departure.

I thought: "Oh, that's why we're delayed". They were waiting for those vehicles.

It's strange that the military would use a passenger ferry to transport vehicles.

But what's really strange,

is the information that surfaced several years later,

that there were military transports on board the Estonia,

just not that night. But there were, because I saw them.

A lot of other people must have seen them, too.

I know there were others on the deck that afternoon.

I know there were crew members in the terminal

and on the boat who must have known about this.

I never thought a Swedish journalist would find me,

but they did.

My name is Kadir Kaymaz,

but at the time of the accident, it was Carl Övberg.

In 1994, Estonia was...

Chaotic, you might say.

You could buy all the old Russian military gear.

You could even buy helicopters.

I sold vehicles to Estonia.

I went there by boat many times, maybe twenty times,

but that night was different.

I took a taxi from central Tallinn to the port.

I was in a hurry.

But when we got to the port, there was a military roadblock there.

The military police stopped the taxi.

As soon as the taxi dropped me off, outside the port, I ran to the boat.

I was the last passenger.

As I looked down to the front of the boat,

I saw some military vehicles, military activity.

Maybe 10 or 15 military personnel and military vehicles

with canopies and red lights.

I thought that something must be going on.

I have no proof, but I believe they were smuggling weapons

or some technical military equipment.

From the former Soviet Union.

When I was back in Stockholm, I received a phone call.

Some guy told me not to come back to Estonia.

It was a threat, so I stopped travelling to Estonia.

Maybe it was because of my observations.

That they didn't like them.

There are still so many unanswered questions about the Estonia.

Why can't the authorities confirm military transport

on board the Estonia that night? I know there were. I witnessed it.

If the Estonia was carrying military cargo that night,

it would influence the investigation in many different ways.

It would explain the covering of the vessel with concrete,

not going into the cargo bay to check the cargo,

and never checking the vessel's hull for damage.

By continuing to hinder further investigations,

we will never know for certain why the Estonia sank.

Only by diving with cameras and inspecting the wreck,

will we know for certain what happened. But the government doesn't want that.

For the handling of the Estonia case to meet the requirements

for how a lawful state handles such an accident,

then the authorities have to take the suggested measures,

to examine the ferry where it lies,

to see what answers they can find there regarding the cause of the accident.

Sending divers down again to examine the wreck more closely,

would be a good thing.

Maybe modern technology would provide some answers.

The first thing we need to find the truth, is new dives. The sooner, the better.

The Finnish coastguard reported possible breaches

of the sanctity of the grave at the site of the Estonia wreck.

The use of a diving robot is suspected.

The truth about what happened to Estonia

is hidden beneath the waters of the Baltic.

It will take a diving expedition to find out what happened.

ROV has visual contact with the wreck.

What the hell?

Oh, shit! Oh, shit...

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