The Arctic Sea: Cargo Ship Missing After Passing English Channel

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Secret cargo aboard missing ship?

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The Arctic Sea, a Russian crewed cargo ship carrying $1.84 million worth of lumber from Finnish company Rets Timber, has gone missing.  The Arctic Sea was last seen passing through the English Channel on July 28, 2009, 4 days after crew had reported an attack.

On July 24, 2009 the 15 man crew of The Arctic Sea reported that it had been illegally boarded while in Swedish waters by masked me who identified themselves as Swedish police. The police in Sweden have since stated that there were no police operations involving The Arctic Sea on or about that date.

According to the crew report that a group of ten masked men boarded The Arctic Sea, tied the up, and beat them. The masked men left 12 hours later taking nothing and the reason for the brutal assault was left a mystery.

On July 28 when The Arctic Sea passed through the English Channel it filed a routine report and made no mention of the July 24 attack.  The boat was identified and the crew was listed by name in that report. The Arctic Sea then headed on to it's final destination, a port in Algeria.

The Arctic Sea was scheduled to make its delivery on August 4, 2009, but it never arrived. No sign of the ship has been seen in the waters along its reported route and the lumber has not been recovered. The disappearance of The Arctic Sea is a total mystery, but the fact that the lumber has not been spotted indicates that the cargo ship did not sink.

On August 11, 2009, a week after The Arctic Sea was scheduled to deliver its cargo, the Russian government issued an alert and called for the safe return of the 15 man crew.