"The sequence of events has been established on the basis of evidence and data, and the vessel Newnew Polar Bear, flying the flag of Hong Kong, is believed to have caused the damage," the statement said.
The bureau added that the technical issues of the cause of the damage have been established — an anchor found at the scene with a wide dragging trail caused the damage to the pipeline.
"A so-called foreign object has been removed from the scene today. It turned out to look like an anchor. The size of the anchor is 2.5 x 2 x 1 meters [8 x 6.5 x 3 feet]," the head of investigation, Risto Lohi, highlighted.
There are traces which indicate that the anchor has been in contact with the gas pipeline, the official added.
Lohi said that the investigators were not able to confirm visually that both of the front anchors of Newnew Polar Bear were in place, which helped them to focus suspicions on one particular ship.
"These observations in connection with data analysed on the traffic of the vessels have corroborated the main line of investigation concerning the role of the vessel Newnew Polar Bear of a Chinese shipping company and flying the flag of Hong Kong in the incident," the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation clarified.
Balticconnector, a gas pipeline connecting Finland and Estonia, was shut down early on October 8 after a sudden drop in pressure raised concerns that gas was leaking from the subsea section. Pipeline operator Gasgrid Finland said the pipeline was damaged.
On October 11, Finnish police spokesman Mikko Simola said that some external traces had been detected on the seabed near the site where Balticconnector was damaged, adding that the Central Finland Police Department was investigating the matter together with colleagues from Estonia. On October 17, Estonian media reported that the Chinese Newnew Polar Bear ship was seen close to the gas pipeline when the gas leak was recorded.