NBI: no knowledge of alleged weapons cargo on Arctic Sea

Sunday Times says ship carried missiles stolen from Russian military

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The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said on Sunday that it has no knowledge that the Finnish-owned freighter, the Arctic Sea, would have been carrying weapons.
      NBI investigator Rabbe von Hertzen said that an article in the British newspaper The Sunday Times, according to which the vessel was carrying a secret cargo of stolen missiles when it was hijacked, was pure speculation. The ship was carrying a load of lumber from Finland to Algeria when it was diverted from its course.
     
Quoting anonymous military sources, the Sunday Times reported that the ship would have been carrying ultra-modern S-300 missiles stolen from the Russian army, destined for Iran.
      According to the article, the Russian Navy would have started to pursue the Arctic Sea after being tipped off by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.
      If the article’s claims were true, it would mean that the missiles would have been on the ship already when it picked up its cargo of wood at the Finnish Port of Pietarsaari.
      Von Hertzen admits that there is logic to the claim, but sees the speculation as merely a continuation of previous claims - many of them concerning possible secret or sensitive cargo - put forward about the Arctic Sea.
     
Harbour supervisor Kari Niemi of the Port of Pietarsaari says that it is quite possible that there may have been a clandestine load of weapons hidden in the ship when it came to pick up its cargo in Pietarsaari in late July.
      Nieminen says that the hold of the ship was not inspected, as the ship was not bringing a cargo into Finland.
      “Normal crew and customs inspections were conducted on the ship. It is quite possible that weapons might have been hidden, behind walls that had been welded in the hold later, or in the ballast tanks or drinking water tanks”, Niemi says.
     
“There is nothing new or surprising in the theory offered by The Sunday Times. Russian analysts put forward the theory several weeks ago”, says Tarmo Kõuts, an Estonian admiral who is reporting on the piracy case to the EU.
      The theory that missiles were being carried by the Arctic Sea spread to the Western press from an interview with Kõuts, who said that he had found the theory on a Russian website.
      “I thought, as a former captain, that hiding missiles in connection with repairs is technically possible. The ship had been docked in Kaliningrad”, the admiral said.
      Von Hertzen says that the initial investigation into the case will be continued in cooperation with the Russians, and with the police officials of the EU countries involved.
     
The cooperation involves an exchange of information, and at present it does not appear that Finnish officials would be travelling to Russia in connection with the investigation.
      “It is not so important to interview the suspects, but rather to make information available to all. I believe that we will exchange information again next week”, von Hertzen said.
      He says that the starting point of the investigation is the assumption that there are others involved in the case in addition to the eight men suspected of hijacking the ship.
     
     
The hijacking case is also being investigated in Finland by the Security Police (SUPO), says Liinu Lehto-Seljavaara, head of communications at SUPO.
      SUPO is not commenting on its investigations, because the NBI is mainly responsible for them.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Russia giving out little information on Arctic Sea mystery (25.8.2009)
  Russia detains eight hijacking suspects on Arctic Sea (19.8.2009)
  Where are you, Arctic Sea? (9.8.2009)

Links:
  Times OnLine, 6.9.2009: Missing channel pirate ship carried Russian arms for Iran

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