[randcmackenzie]

Don't hold your breath.

[SN NewsCaster]

The Russian navy arrests a group of eight people it says hijacked the Arctic Sea, the missing ship found off Cape Verde.

More from BBC News...

[Don Matheson]

I notice BBC news 24 this morning was showing that eight men had been arrested regarding stealing a ship IN the Arctic Sea. They later changed it (09.00) to the merchant ship Arctic Sea. Not bad, they were only about 1000 miles out.

Don

[Gareth Jones]

Well done Russian navy - it's only a matter of time before this kind of Somalian type piracy spreads all over.

[Andrey Nelogov]

Originally Posted by Gareth Jones

Well done Russian navy - it's only a matter of time before this kind of Somalian type piracy spreads all over.

With reference to Russian News: 8 persons have been arrested - 4 Citizens of Estonia, 2 Citizens of Latvia and 2 Citizens of Russia.

[Coastie]

I'm surprised that the Pirates are still alive!!

[Don Matheson]

I wonder if the pirates will "Escape" from the warship while it steams home to Russia?

[SN NewsCaster]

A group that hijacked the Arctic Sea threatened to blow up the cargo ship if its ransom demand was not met, Russian officials say.

More from BBC News...

[Tonga]

Well option 3 is amusing if nothing else…

The Mysterious Cargo of the Arctic Sea

© 19 August 2009By Yulia Latynina - Moscow Times

The Arctic Sea turned up just as suddenly as it disappeared, and Russian officials acknowledged Tuesday that they had known the cargo ship’s location and fate for several days. Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said eight hijackers who had seized the ship on July 24 had been arrested on board.

Here’s the timeline for this fantastic tale, if you haven’t been following. On July 24, the Arctic Sea suffered (or supposedly suffered) an attack off the Swedish island of Oland, in the Baltic Sea. News of the incident only broke on July 29 — possibly by accident or possibly leaked by the ship’s owner in hopes of influencing the attackers. In any case, the reports at the time suggested that “pirates” tied up and tortured the crew before leaving the ship 12 hours later.

The following day, at 1:29 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time on July 30, the ship’s signal vanished. It’s technically possible that by July 24 the Arctic Sea was already on a different course and that the Automatic Identification System transponder was installed on a different boat (or that its parameters were simply entered into another transponder). It’s unlikely, however, that the attackers would try to navigate the Danish straits and English Channel without any communications. More likely, the AIS was working aboard the Arctic Sea and then cut off after information about the ship’s seizure was leaked.

The ship’s owner, though, wasn’t worried, even by the silenced AIS. The alarm was only sounded Aug. 4, when the ship failed to arrive as expected in Bejaia, Algeria. In other words, the owners must have known what happened to the vessel — there’s no other way to explain their actions.

Neither the run-of-the-mill explanation (that the owners allegedly stole the ship to claim the insurance money) nor the bandits hypothesis (that attackers were supposedly looking for drugs) adequately explains the disappearance. An old bathtub packed with timber, or even a load of cocaine, wouldn’t be worth enough to justify the risk and commotion, or the preparation required.

Then there’s version No. 3: the special services. The Arctic Sea was carrying something, not timber and not from Finland, that necessitated some major work on the ship. Something that required dismantling the bulkhead, complete with gas cutting torches, during two weeks of “repair work” in Kaliningrad before the voyage, and something so large that it couldn’t be loaded for delivery onto just any little boat. To put it plainly: The Arctic Sea was carrying some sort of anti-aircraft or nuclear contraption intended for a nice, peaceful country like Syria, and they were caught with it. And this wasn’t a one-time delivery. I’m not a believer in the omniscience of the CIA or Mossad, who might have somehow found out that on a certain date a certain old vessel would be delivering a certain little something. Most likely, it was a tried and true route that had been used successfully for quite some time. And now they’ve been caught.

On Saturday, Aug. 15, the Arctic Sea’s AIS again worked briefly in the Bay of Biscay. Shortly thereafter, France announced that there was no cargo ship in the area and that the signal was coming from one of the three Russian Navy ships there.

It’s tough to say why a Russian military ship would suddenly decide to send out the Arctic Sea’s signal (they removed the AIS transponder, took it with them and then somehow clumsily bumped into it and turned it on?), but, by the looks of it, that’s when Russia found itself backed into a corner. And now instead of a possible tragedy we’ll see a cover-up operation.

Yulia Latynina hosts a political talk show on Ekho Moskvy radio.

[SN NewsCaster]

The crew and suspected hijackers of the Arctic Sea - the cargo ship found off West Africa on Monday - arrive in Moscow.

More from BBC News...

[Andrey Nelogov]

Russian TV video and photo with delivery of hijackers to Russia are available here http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=310749&m=2 and here http://www.vesti.ru/videos?vid=240796

[SN NewsCaster]

The alleged hijackers of the Arctic Sea are in custody in Moscow but the world is none the wiser about what happened to the ship, the BBC's Alan Quartly reports.

More from BBC News...

[forthbridge]

From today's Maritime Advocate on Line3. Arctic Sea Latest

We are obliged to the publishers of the Daily Clippings for these latest postings:-

Arctic Sea hijack suspects claim to be environmentalists

Eleven members of the crew of the Maltese-flag cargo ship Arctic Sea have arrived in Moscow along with eight
suspected hijackers. Four members of the crew, including the captain, have remained with the ship. The Arctic sea is reportedly still some 260 miles from the Cape Verde islands, where it was intercepted by the Russian frigate Ladny following its apparent hijacking on July 24. While the English-language RT TV channel covered the arrival of the detainees and crew members, coverage by Russia's Vesti TV of the detainees transfer from Cape Verde showed some of the suspects to have the heavy prison tattoos associated with Russian professional criminals.

Vesti reported the detainees told the Russian military that they were environmentalist and scientists who had been
captured by mistake. According to reports filed with the Finnish and Swedish police, the Arctic Sea was seized at
gunpoint at 3 AM on July 24 in Swedish waters. The crew were beaten and tied up. The Vesti report says the detainees claim they were merely taking shelter from a storm and had requested fuel fromthe Arctic Sea. They say they were "friends" of the crew. Vesti comments that the crew members were still bearing the marks of that friendship--bruising from plastic handcuffs and in one case a broken arm--when they boarded the plane
for Russia. If your Russian is up to it, here's the link to the Vesti story:

http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=3108...72846&p=1&fr=0


Contact with the ship was lost off Portugal on July 28. Russia's Ambassador to NATO today told Echo Moskvy radio that NATO assistance significantly facilitated the search and rescue of the ship. Ambassador Rogozin said NATO started providing Russia with reliable and timely information on the Arctic Sea's whereabouts on August 12, which helped the Russian Navy to plan and coordinate the efforts in the rescue of the ship.

Arctic Sea Crew, Hijackers Interrogated

Investigators immediately whisked the crew of the Arctic Sea away for interrogation Thursday after they flew into
Moscow, as officials tried to determine whether the 11 seamen were involved in their ship’s curious hijacking.
The news deepened the mystery surrounding the cargo ship, which the Russian military said it had freed Monday off West Africa weeks after it went missing. Officials said later they were withholding details about the ship’s whereabouts in an effort to help the rescue effort. Russian federal investigators said they were questioning the sailors and the eight suspected hijackers. Interfax news agency said both groups had been brought to the notorious Lefortovo prison run by the FSB — the main KGB successor agency.

Interfax cited an unidentified law enforcement official as saying the crew would be set free if the investigators confirm they weren't involved in the hijacking. The Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, confirmed that 11 crew and eight suspected hijackers returned to Moscow from Cape Verde on Thursday and said the ship’s captain and three other crew members stayed on the ship. The Arctic Sea had been due to dock in Algeria on Aug. 4 and unload its cargo of timber, but the Kremlin said the ship was being brought to Russia’s Black Sea Port of Novorossiisk for further investigation. The Kremlin statement on Thursday made no mention of any plan to stopover in Algeria.
State-run Vesti-24 TV showed footage of what it said were the air force planes arriving at the Chkalovsky air base field outside Moscow, and men believed to be the hijackers being escorted by special forces soldiers.
Earlier, men identified as Arctic Sea crew members told Vesti that the ship and its cargo of 1.3 million euros ($1.8
million) worth of timber was seized in the Baltic Sea by armed gunmen. One unidentified man told Vesti that a crew member sent a text message saying the ship had been hijacked, but the hijackers then forced the captain at gunpoint to report that everything was normal on board. Vesti also showed men it identified as the suspected hijackers in handcuffs being led by Russian marines to buses on the Cape Verde island of Sal. Russia says four of the detained hijackers were Estonians, while the others were from Russia and Latvia. The group was reportedly brought to Moscow in three heavylift Il-76 transport planes, each capable of carrying 40 metric tons (44 tons) of cargo. It was unclear, however, why three planes were needed to fly a small group to Moscow, and why one of Russia’s largest planes — often used to transport heavy weapons and other bulky cargo — were used for the operation.

Officials have said the hijackers demanded a ransom and threatened to blow up the freighter if their demands were not met. But Russian and European maritime experts have cast doubt on the ransom reports and speculation hasgrown that the freighter was carrying undeclared or even contraband cargo, possibly weapons or drugs.
Those suspicions have been fueled by the thin trickle of information from the Russian government. Yevgeny Limarev, a former Russian security agent, said the Arctic Sea was likely at the center of a struggle between
competing Russian business and Kremlin clans, and the Kremlin was forced to intervene to prevent an international scandal. The ship left a Finnish port on July 21 with a crew of 15 Russians. More than a week later, Swedish police said they received a report that masked men had raided the ship in the Baltic Sea and beaten the crew before speeding off 12 hours later in their inflatable craft. The Maltese-flagged freighter gave no indication of any difficulties or change in its route during radio contact while passing through the English Channel on July 28. Signals from the ship’s tracking device were picked up off the Frenchcoast late the next day. A Swedish police spokeswoman, Linda Widmark, said Swedish authorities last had contact with the ship on July 31, in a brief telephone call with someone who identified himself as the captain. “It was a very short phone call, it was cut off, but it seemed as if everything was normal,” she told The Associated Press.A Russian company, Renaissance Insurance, said it received a ransom demand for $1.5 million on Aug. 3. The Arctic Sea was operated by the Finnish company Solchart, which has Russian management and a sister company providing technical support in the Russian city of Arkhangelsk, the home of all 15 crew. Source : St Petersburg Times

[SN NewsCaster]

Russia says for the first time that a ship which went missing in mysterious circumstances may have had sensitive cargo.

More from BBC News...

[SN NewsCaster]

Eight men have been charged with hijacking and piracy after the disappearance of the Arctic Sea, Russian prosecutors say.

More from BBC News...

[Outlawtorn70]

Hi everybody,
Personally, I cannot imagine that a ship could be hijacked nowadays in the middle of the Baltic Sea, then pass through the most congested waters of the globe as the Arctic Sea did. My opinion is that the real story (something that we will never know about) is a little more complicated. Look at this:

Arctic Sea: A split in Russian security establishment?

and this:

Did Mossad hijack Russian ship to stop Iran arms shipment?

Regards.

[SN NewsCaster]

A journalist flees Russia after suggesting the Arctic Sea cargo ship, apparently hijacked in July, may have been carrying illegal arms.

More from BBC News...

[Bearsie]

Secrets are hard to keep quiet in this day and age...
It seems odd that Russia would spend millions in a navy operation to "rescue" a rust bucket then drive the ship right past its destination without unloading the cargo to "investigate" the ship better in a Russian black sea port. So the Mystery has been reduced not to if something is on board that shouldn't be but which shady Russian group p*ssed off another Russian group and how far up the government ladder people are involved.
Russians certainly seem to indulge in interesting ways to do business

I for one do not see how a British, Dutch or German coaster would have caused a similar flurry of activity, not even off the coast of Somalia...


Greetings, Bearsie

[shamrock]

Irony...

Arctic Sea, according to Miramar, was once owned by ZIM...who are Israeli...who (the Israelis) have been implicated in this whole mess.

The ship has been around the block a bit...

OKHOTSKOE
ALRAI
ZIM VENEZUELA
TORM SENEGAL
JOGAILA
ARCTIC SEA

[SN NewsCaster]

Russia says it has finished looking into the case of a cargo ship hijacked in the Baltic Sea in July.

More from BBC News...

[Andrey Nelogov]

In my honest opinion 99% that it is pure criminal story and Government interests are not involved at all. There are no reasons for Government to ship cargo this manner.
Unfo there is crime growth due to crisis. It could be drugs or any other contraband. In fact Government had a good chance to show a "sea power" (Russian version of struggle against piracy) which is absolutely needed for ambitious people.
One story I had in Baltic Shipping. It happened in Riga very beg of 1990-th. We received a phone call from one of our ship that strange (crime) people looking for Mr Freight, who is dead. That time it was "ordinary" reply on Master request to arrange loading of resin as agreed otherwise dead freight. The people were sent by "Charterers" to find who is Mr Freight and who is going to kill him. May be, it is a joke...

[SN NewsCaster]

A lawyer for one of eight alleged Russian hijackers of the Arctic Sea says they were in fact welcomed on board the ship.

More from BBC News...

[SN NewsCaster]

The BBC's Sarah Rainsford tries to uncover what really happened when the Arctic Sea cargo ship went missing amid allegations of hijacking and smuggling.

More from BBC News...

[Andrey Nelogov]

It seems too hard to find a black cat in dark room, especially if the cat is absent there. This is to enclose a description of S300 from open sources...

[eriskay]

Arctic Sea sails out - extract from today's Times of Malta :

The Arctic Sea, the Finnish-owned timber-carrying vessel that was at the centre of a hijacking saga early this summer, left Malta at about 2.15 p.m. yesterday after repair works on its communication system were completed.

The Maltese-flagged ship was allegedly hijacked by eight men, demanding $1.5 million in ransom, off the coast of Sweden on July 24. Radio contact was lost after the ship navigated the English Channel.

It was supposed to have delivered its cargo of timber to the port of Bejaia in Algeria on August 4 but this never happened due to the alleged hijacking. It is now on its way to deliver its cargo, according to the Medsea shipping agency.

Russian authorities handed the ship over to its owners, just outside Maltese territorial waters on October 29. By 4 p.m. that day, members of the Civil Protection Department and Malta Maritime Authority inspectors had boarded it and confirmed it was not carrying any hazardous material or weapons as had been reported by some segments of the international media.

The alleged hijackers are due to be prosecuted in Russia under international law, which allows any state to intervene in the event of a hijacking.