Hijacking of Ship in Baltic Sea of Swedish Coast

[Samen]

Suspected Hijacking of Ship in Baltic Sea of Swedish Coast

published today 08:24 PM, updated today 08:37 PM
Arctic Sea -alus

The Arctic Sea photographed in Loviisa in 2008.


Image: Henrik Hilli

A Maltese-oiwned freight vessel under Finnish management is reported to have been hijacked near the islands of Öland and Gotland in Swedish waters in the Baltic Sea. A group of men dressed in black, who impersonated police officers, reportedly took over the vessel a week ago Thursday night.

Swedish police confirmed to YLE news that the police were informed of the hijacking on Tuesday evening by Solchart Management, the company which administers the ship, the Arctic Sea. The company’s representative Viktor Matveyev told YLE that the course and routing of the ship were interfered with in the Baltic. The vessel is owned by a Maltese company.

Matveyev says that he has been in constant contact with the ship’s Russian crew. He says that the ship is en route to Algeria, its original destination, and is now near the Bay of Biscay.

The hijackers tied and beat the crew of the ship, which was carrying a load of sawn timber. They reportedly held the vessel for about 12 hours, says a representative of Sweden’s Criminal Police.

It remains a mystery what the hijackers, who spoke English, were looking for. Police believe that they were looking for drugs.

YLE



http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2009/07/s...st_897879.html

[dyrt]

Swedish Hell's Angels?

[Samen]

Originally Posted by dyrt

Swedish Hell's Angels?

Dono

Mutiny and seling ship to 3rd world countries or huge drug deal, testing of the redines of Scandinavian or Baltic states by the russians or the USA, rumours spread as the ship has gone totally missing, some say it disapeared around Gibralta for good some say it never left the Baltic sea, are underpayed third world seamen a risk factor as overtaking a ship is prety easy, the rumour mill is going wild as the ship has totally disapeared, was it ever even hijacked…

Now the Russians have joined the Finish Latvian and the Swedes in hunt of a mystery ship gone missing, the cargo is reported by some authorities as being only half of whats being posted ie. Timber the other half ?

------

http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2009/08/r...ip_916617.html


Russians Track Stora Enso Mystery Ship

published yesterday 07:59 PM, updated yesterday 09:09 PM
The Arctic Sea docked at Lovisa, Finland in April 2008.

The Arctic Sea docked at Lovisa, Finland in April 2008.

Image: Henrik Hilli

Russian authorities are trying to track down a cargo ship carrying timber for the Finnish-Swedish forest products company Stora Enso that has disappeared 12 days ago en route from Finland to Algeria.

The Arctic Sea has a Russian crew of 13. It was boarded on July 24 off the Swedish coast and searched by attackers posing as policemen searching for drugs. They beat and tied up the crew for 12 hours, stole their mobile phones and damaged the vessel's radio equipment before leaving. The incident took place between the islands of Gotland and Öland after the ship left the Finnish west-coast port of Pietarsaari.

Russia's Navy and Federal Security Service FSB are tracing the vessel's movements since it mysteriously vanished from radar four days after the still-unexplained boarding incident. At that point it was in the English Channel, and was last seen near Portugal.

The Maltese-flagged bulk carrier, which is apparently Latvian-owned, was to have arrived at the Algerian port of Bejaia on Wednesday, but failed to turn up.

Stora Enso communications director Lauri Peltola told YLE on Sunday that Stora Enso's freight on the ship is worth about 300,000 euros.

"We have about 2,000 cubic meters of timber on board," he said. "The load is insured, but of course we are interested in finding out where the vessel is."

YLE, Reuters

[Samen]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...l-1770266.html



Hijacked ship in the English Channel

Missing Latvian-owned vessel with £1m cargo traced by British coastguards

By Lewis Smith

Tuesday, 11 August 2009


'Arctic Sea', with a 15-strong Russian crew, vanished with its £1m cargo of timber at the end of July

An international maritime hunt is underway for a missing cargo ship which is thought to be the first hijacked vessel to be sailed through the English Channel in modern times.

The Arctic Sea, a Maltese registered, Latvian-owned ship with a 15-strong Russian crew, vanished with its £1m cargo at the end of July on its way from Finland to Algeria.

British coastguards were the last people known to communicate with the ship on 29 July as it passed along the Channel but it wasn't realised at the time that anything was wrong.
Related articles



It is now thought that when the UK's Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) was in radio contact with the ship that the person speaking to them was either a hijacker or a member of the crew with a gun pointed at his head.

The circumstances surrounding its likely hijacking are as puzzling as its current whereabouts. Swedish authorities were told by the Finnish shipping line operating the vessel that on 24 July the Arctic Sea had been boarded by eight to 10 heavily-armed men while it sailed through the Baltic Sea. The crew, three of whom were injured, were tied up and the black-clad and masked men, who purported to be narcotics police, searched the ship.

After 12 hours the intruders left and, supposedly, allowed the vessel to continue on its journey having damaged the communications equipment. But after reaching the Portuguese coast, having sailed along the Channel to get to the Atlantic, the Arctic Sea disappeared from the radar and hasn't been seen since. Its destination had been the Algerian port of Bejaia which it was scheduled to reach on 4 August with its valuable cargo of timber.

Mark Clark, of the MCA, said: "It's highly unusual. We don't know the last time a hijacked vessel sailed the English Channel, it was that long ago. It's very weird, very strange. There's no parallel that we know about that comes this strange.

"We heard from this ship, not knowing it had been hijacked, on 29 July at 5.30 in the morning. Every ship has to report to us if they are on our side of the Channel. They said they had 15 crew on board and they were going from Jacobstad to Bejaia. They were carrying a load of timber.

"It wasn't until later that we had a report from the Zeebrugge police to say it had been hijacked off the coast of Sweden. The contact we had suggested everything was OK on the ship but we don't know if we were talking to a hijacker or a genuine crew member with a gun at his head."

The next time the 3,988 tonne ship, which was built in 1992 and is thought to have been in good condition, was recorded was by a Portuguese coastal patrol aircraft. The timber on the ship belonged to a Finnish-Swedish paper, pulp and timber firm, Stora Enso, which has been trying to get details of the cargo's whereabouts from the vessel's Finnish-based management firm, Solchart Management.

Kari Numminen, of Stora Enso, said: "The shipping line has not told us anything. There is absolutely no information at all. Naturally, wild theories emerge in such a situation."

Swedish, Finnish and Russian authorities are among those investigating the disappearance and the Russian navy is now thought to have dispatched a warship to join the hunt.

"This ship is of interest to very many people," a Spanish coastguard official said. "There are no indications that it would have passed Gibraltar.

"It would be very strange if the ship would have managed to slip through unnoticed."

[Brihard]

It's probably now occurring to them to think, 'Now what?'

[Sysiphus]

Certainly seems like a lot of trouble to go to for a bit of timber. Either the hijackers made a mistake, or there is more to the story than meets the eye.

[Ought Six]

If they cannot find it, it has likely been scuttled.

[Samen]

Interesting case could set a trend
------>

Ransom Demand For Missing Ship

published Fri 08:33 PM, updated today 06:06 PM
Arctic Sea in the Finnish port of Loviisa, April 30,2008.

Finland's National Bureau of Investigation says that a ransom demand has been received for the missing cargo ship, the Arctic Sea.

The Maltese-owned, Russian-crewed and Finnish-operated vessel disappeared two weeks ago while en route with a cargo of timber from Finland to Algeria. It has been the target of a major international search.

Finland's National Bureau of Investigation declined to say what the size of the ransom is, other than it is a significant sum. The affair is being jointly investigated by Finnish, Maltese and Swedish police.

According to information received by YLE, the lives of the crew have been threatened if the ransom is not paid.

The NIB believes that the ship was taken over by hijackers in July while still in the Baltic Sea. For that reason, Finnish officials have not released any information about possible contact with the vessel or when the ransom demand was received, or if rumours about the location of the ship have been accurate. Release of such information could endanger the 15-member crew.

However, the authorities do not know with certainty that the ship has been hijacked. The Finnish company that operates the vessel filed an official crime report with police in Finland who passed it on to Swedish police.

Finland's National Bureau of Investigation has a key role in the case, acting as a clearinghouse for information from officials in over 20 countries involved in the investigation.

Viktor Matvejev, the CEO of Solchart Management which operates the Arctic Sea on Saturday declined to comment on the information released by the NBI.

The disappearance of the Arctic Sea, which dropped off the radar in the English Channel on July 28, has sparked intense speculation about its fate, with experts debating whether pirates, a mafia quarrel or a commercial dispute were involved.

The ship had been due to arrive in Algeria on August 4 with a cargo of sawn timber loaded at Pietarsaari, Finland.

A European Union spokesman said Friday that the ship appeared to have been attacked twice but not in "traditional" acts of piracy, and Russian warships have been scouring the Atlantic Ocean for the vessel.

Swedish police say the ship was hijacked in the Baltic Sea on July 24, when masked men claiming to be anti-drugs police boarded the ship, tied up the crew and searched the vessel. But the men reportedly left after about 12 hours.

YLE, AFP

http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2009/08/r...ip_930430.html

[Samen]

http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2009/08/r..._93442 1.html

Russian Defense Minister: Hijacked Ship Found

published today 04:34 PM, updated today 06:01 PM
Arctic Sea


Image: EPA / Sovfracht

Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov says the Russian-crewed vessel that disappeared nearly three weeks ago has been found off the West African coast, report Russian news agencies.

Serdyukov said the Arctic Sea’s 15 crew members were alive and well, and now aboard a Russian naval ship. He said more details about what happened to the vessel would be made public later on Monday.

The crew was reportedly attacked on July 24 in the Baltic Sea by masked men who questioned them about drugs before leaving 12 hours later, according to Swedish police.

The Russian Defense Minister said the crew was not under armed control when the ship was located some 480 kilometers away from Cape Verde.

According to YLE, investigators in Finland were also aware of the ship’s location for some time. However the information was not made public in order to protect the crew.

Officials across Europe were perplexed by the disappearance of the vessel. Speculation about what happened to the ship ranged from its being seized by pirates to being involved in a shady commercial dispute.

On Saturday, Finnish investigators reported that the ship's owners had received a ransom demand. However it was not clear who had issued the demand.

Crew Bruised and Battered

Earlier on Monday, Finland's National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) had confirmed that Swedish police possessed photos of assaulted crew members from the hijacked ship. The Daily Telegraph earlier reported that crew members had been photographed with bruises and missing teeth.

The Maltese-owned, Russian-crewed and Finnish-operated vessel disappeared while en route with a cargo of timber from Finland to Algeria. It had been the target of a major international search.

YLE, AFP, Reuters, Itar-Tass, DPA

[Sysiphus]

The crew was reportedly attacked on July 24 in the Baltic Sea by masked men who questioned them about drugs before leaving 12 hours later, according to Swedish police.

Oh - that clears everything up. So, what happened during the next 500+ hours while the ship was drifting to somewhere off the coast of W Africa??

[Samen]

Update and speculation from 4 sources

----------------------


September 6, 2009
Missing channel pirate ship carried Russian arms for Iran


The Arctic Sea mysteriously disappeared off the coast of France on 1 August 2009

Mark Franchetti in Moscow and Uzi Mahnaimi in Tel Aviv

A CARGO ship that vanished in the Channel was carrying arms to Iran and was being tracked by Mossad, the Israeli security service, according to sources in both Russia and Israel.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6823300.ece


--------------------------------


Was Russia's 'Hijacked' Ship Carrying Missiles to the Mideast?

Monday, Aug. 31, 2009
In July, the Russian-manned cargo ship the Arctic Sea disappeared on its way to take timber from Finland to Algeria, sparking reports of the first incident of piracy in European waters since the days of the buccaneers. Experts and observers weighed in with their theories: the ship had been snatched in a commercial dispute; it was being used to run drugs; it was carrying something more precious — or dangerous — than timber.

Since then, the Russian navy has found the ship, and the alleged hijackers who boarded it on July 24 have been charged with kidnapping and piracy. The ship's captain, his crew and whatever cargo the ship was carrying have also been detained. An initial search of the hull turned up nothing suspicious, and now Russia's official explanation of what happened will probably become the final one — this was a hijacking thwarted by its navy without a shot being fired. But there are baffling details left unexplained, leading some experts to claim that the truth is much more sinister: the Arctic Sea, they say, was intercepted by Israel as it carried a secret cargo of weapons to the Middle East. (See pictures of dramatic pirate-hostage rescues.)
The highest-ranking official to put forward this version of events is the European Union's rapporteur on piracy and a former commander of the Estonian armed forces, Admiral Tarmo Kouts. In an interview with TIME, he says only a shipment of missiles could account for Russia's bizarre behavior throughout the monthlong saga. "There is the idea that there were missiles aboard, and one can't explain this situation in any other way," he says. "As a sailor with years of experience, I can tell you that the official versions are not realistic."
Kouts says an Israeli interception of the cargo is the most likely explanation. But this theory, which some Russian analysts put forward in the days after the Arctic Sea was rescued and which Kouts agreed with in his interview with TIME, has been vehemently denied by Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitri Rogozin, who says Kouts should stop "running his mouth."
http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...919342,00.html

-----------------------

Russian Envoy Talks About Arctic Sea Hijacking

'We Found Nothing Conspicuous on Board'


In an interview with SPIEGEL, Russia's ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, 45, says rumors surrounding the cargo of the hijacked freighter Arctic Sea stem from "Russophobia" and that the case highlights the need for close cooperation to stop piracy between Moscow and NATO.
SPIEGEL: Did NATO support Russia in the search for the freighter Arctic Sea?


Rogozin: I met NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on August 11, at his request, and told him that Russia was in a difficult position, we were looking for a ship, and asked if NATO could help. SPIEGEL: What was the answer?
Rogozin: Rasmussen was not fully informed about the matter but promised help. The next day the head of our military liaison group with NATO, General Victor Sinoyev, rang me. NATO colleagues had sent him the coordinates of a ship they believed to be the Arctic Sea. I immediately passed the data on to the head of the General Staff and the head of the fleet in Moscow. They tallied with the data our own people had gathered by then.
SPIEGEL: What happened then?
Rogozin: Then we refined the coordinates with NATO on a daily basis: the speed of the vessel, the direction. The Arctic Sea was steering towards Brazil but suddenly changed course at the Cape Verde islands and headed full steam for the African coast. We assumed the pirates were headed for Senegal, Gambia or Guinea-Bissau. It was our task to stop them from reaching the coast.
SPIEGEL: Public statements made in Russia didn't make things look as clear as you state. President Dmitry Medvedev, for example, claimed the Baltic Sea is safe and that there are no pirates there. But the next day the defense minister said, Yes, there are pirates there. Was the president misled?
Rogozin: The defense minister didn't mislead him, we had no precise information at that time. The ship was seized by an international gang of hijackers. They managed to board the ship by posing as Swedish police officers. One sailor had time to communicate this by text message. Later they pretended they had left the ship. They forced the captain to tell the shipping company that everything was o.k., that the pirates had left the ship. Medvedev simply didn't know that at that point.
SPIEGEL: Why did the Arctic Sea sail on with its communications system switched off?
Rogozin: The pirates only (broadcast signals) when they were passing through the English Channel because they regarded it as a very difficult thoroughfare. Then they switched everything off again. At this point we realized this was a very strange event and the president then got involved.
SPIEGEL: Russia then dispatched a lot of warships -- all this for a freighter that was only transporting timber?
Rogozin: It was really only carrying timber. This was about ransom money. Special forces from our army boarded the freighter in the night and overwhelmed the pirates. It was a very successful operation.
SPIEGEL: We ask again. Was there really only timber on board?
Rogozin: We found nothing conspicuous on board. And that's the bad news: this was about ransom money. This shows that the fight against piracy along the Somali coast has failed. Various countries have kept on paying ransoms and thereby inspired copycats.
SPIEGEL: The European Commission said the incident was the stuff of Hollywood movies. This wouldn't be a movie about drugs or arms dealing?
Rogozin: The operation itself -- and I followed it hour by hour -- was dramatic. We had to keep concealing the location of our warships, because the pirates wanted to flee and they could hear radio on board and had television.
SPIEGEL: In the United States there's suspicion that there was nuclear material for a dirty bomb on board; in Moscow there was talk of nuclear technology for Syria.
Rogozin: That was ugly speculation. When a country like ours encounters a problem like this, one often gets the most outlandish speculation. One Estonian admiral astonished us with his cynicism and incompetence.
SPIEGEL: ... who do you mean?
Rogozin: I don't want to say the name, but I mean the former head of the Estonian armed forces, the EU rapporteur on piracy.
SPIEGEL: You are referring to Admiral Tarmo Kouts.
Rogozin: He suggested Russia was transporting rockets or guided missiles to Iran on the ship. The admiral of this seafaring power appears to have problems with geography. It's quicker to reach Iran via the Caspian Sea. The speculation that arose about this was simply nonsense, irresponsible.
SPIEGEL: There was also a rumor that the Arctic Sea had loaded an ominous freight in Kaliningrad before it set sail.
Rogozin: It's nothing more than Russophobia. Kaliningrad is rubbish too. If the Finns packed guided missiles in along with the timber, that would be up to them. Any information vacuum always tends to be filled with the wildest rumors.
SPIEGEL: Why weren't the crew allowed to contact their relatives after they were released?
Rogozin: That's normal in a situation like that. Now it's time for the investigators: Did the pirates have helpers? Did everyone in the crew behave properly? That's why the crew had to be isolated at first.
SPIEGEL: Experts regard the supposed ransom demand of $1.5 million as unbelievably low.
Rogozin: That sum was really discussed, it was reported by the Finnish police. But we assumed that it could change, that's why we didn't want to let the pirates get to the African coast.
SPIEGEL: No secret freight, no exchange of gunfire in the rescue -- that's astonishing after this confusion.
Rogozin: The operation happened at night, there was no resistance. The lesson is that we should in the future use the NATO-Russia council to improve coordination among ourselves and to take more effective action against international piracy.
This interview, conducted by Christian Neef, has been translated from the German.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/...644598,00.html
-----------------------------------------
At the present the ship is three days from the Gibraltar headed to the Black sea harbor of Novorossiysk for further inspection, tightly escorted by Russian warship.

Translation by me from: http://yle.fi/uutiset/ulkomaat/2009/...la_990017.html
---------------------------------

Wonder what’s taking so long to reach Gibraltar.

[DReynolds]

Fits in with Mossad's European modus operandi.

[Sysiphus]

I have heard a few reports of this. Good for the Mossad if they pulled it off - pretty clumsy by their standards though. They could easily have nabbed it outside the North Sea, replaced with a competent crew and no one other than the ship owners would have been any the wiser.

[Samen]

Fuel question is one, where did she bunker? Bunker actually twice by now.

She was before loading of wood cargo in Pietarsaari laden, but the cargo hold was empty, on departure her draught was more than should have been and would have needed a deck cargo to explain this, even a hidden fuel tank would not explain this draught, below speculation in Finnish partly obviously buy skippers or officers and a few laymen, and one or two propaganda officers explaining the draught and range,



-----
http://keskustelu.suomi24.fi/node/8456963
1 being at least 53 tons short of fuel to reach Cape Verde

2 The ship had allegedly 6700 m2 of pine at a weight of 0,51 multiply is 3.417 tons.as the ship only holds 5200 m2 there would have had to be a deck cargo of 1400 m2 or 49 440.533 41 cubic foot

In images taken at the time there is no deck cargo but still the ship is unusually deap at the draught.

And so on,,speculation

[Samen]

Finaly ....almost home. Took a few months

Russia transfers 'Arctic Sea' to Finnish owners

Ship to berth at Grand Harbour at 7.15 p.m.

Kurt Sansone



The MV Arctic Sea has been transferred by Russia to its Finnish owners and is to berth at Boiler Wharf in Grand Harbour this evening after having been given the go-ahead by the Malta Civil Protection Department and the Malta Maritime Authority.
The freighter had been under Russian control since August when its forces took it over off the Cape Verde islands after it was reportedly hijacked in the Baltic Sea in July.
MMA officials said at a press conference this afternoon that yesterday at 7 pm the ship anchored 14 miles East of Marsaxlokk. At 10.35 a.m. officials from the Civil Protection Department and the MMA went onboard to carry out an inspection to ensure there was no radioactivity or other dangerous cargo. The all-clear was given at 4 p.m.
An MMA inspectorate team and a police team this morning boarded the ship at 11.30 a.m. to check on the ship's seaworthiness and to check if there was any evidence of criminal activity.
At 1.30 p.m. Russia handed over the ship to its Finnish owners.
At 2.30 p.m. Tug Malta took over the tow of the ship and the vessel started proceeding to Malta. It is expected to berth at 7.15 p.m.
The officials said the ship is being manned by the owners' crew, with a relief crew taking over tonight.
The Arctic Sea had been under Russian Navy control since August after having been reportedly seized by hijackers in July in the Baltic. Russian Forces took over the Russian-crewed vessel in August.
Both Russia and the ship owners have repeatedly denied that it ever carried a dangerous cargo or weapons.
The MMA officials said the ship is only carrying timber and will be treated like any other commercial vessel. It currently cannot steam on its own because of steering problems.
The MMA officials said they had full cooperation from the Russian authorities.
Asked whether they believed that the ship had been hijacked, the MMA officials said they had no other evidence to show otherwise.
They confirmed that the alleged hijackers would be prosecuted in Russia. This, they said, was within international law since any state could intervene when a ship was taken over by pirates.


http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles...h-this-evening

[Samen]

Arctic Sea Piracy Trial to be Held in Russia

published yesterday 07:37 PM, updated yesterday 08:02 PM
Arctic Sea
Image: Sovfracht / EPA


A Russian court has ruled that the trial concerning the hijacking of the Finnish-owned and Maltese-registered freight vessel, the Arctic Sea, will be held in Russia. The court rejected calls from one of the defendants that the case be heard either in Sweden or Malta.

The Arctic Sea was seized by a group of hijackers in Swedish waters in the Baltic Sea on July the 24th this year, as it was carrying a load of lumber from Finland to Algeria.
The eight defendants include citizens of Estonia, Russia, and Latvia. The members of the ship’s crew were Russian, from Archangel.
NBI Still Investigating Case
Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation is still conducting its own investigation into the case, and NBI investigator Rabbe von Herzen says that the Russian court decision does not mean that the case could not be handled in Finland as well.
The NBI also hopes to interrogate the suspected hijackers in Russia – possibly before the end of the year.
YLE



http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2009/11/a...11962 27.html