World

Missing Ship Arctic Sea May Have Been Hijacked

by Rob Walker | August 13, 2009 at 07:52 am

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A cargo ship that was briefly hijacked off the coast of Sweden has disappeared, although Russian officials say they may have found it.

The cargo ship Arctic Sea went missing on July 30 and was boarded on July 24 by masked men claiming to be Swedish anti-drug police. They tied up the crew and searched the vessel, leaving 12 hours later.

Authorities are wondering if the ship was carrying something other than its supposedly load of timber, which is worth about $1.8 million. Russian officials say their navy has found the ship and is shadowing it, but hasn't made a move towards it yet.

If this event had occurred in the seas off east Africa, the finger would immediately have been pointed at Somalia's notorious pirates.

But the Arctic Sea disappeared while rounding the west coast of France, in what are considered to be the pirate-free shipping lanes of Europe.

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Paschen

at 08:22 on August 13th, 2009

Sounds almost like ABC weapons being traded by some one.

sara star

at 12:56 on August 13th, 2009

Intriguing story

"It doesn't look like it's the sort of theft of a high-value ship or high-value cargo… so the longer it goes on, the more it looks like some sort of dispute between Russian interests."

Mikhail Voitenko, editor of Russia's Sovfracht maritime bulletin, goes one further to suggest "the vessel was loaded secretly with something we don't know anything about".

He ruled out drugs or "illegal criminal cargo", adding: "I think it is something much more expensive and dangerous.

The Maltese-flagged ship had a 15-member Russian crew when it set sail from Finland with $1.8 million in timber destined for Algeria. It was supposed to dock in the Algerian port of Bejaia on Aug. 4.