Russian Navy rescues Arctic Sea crew near Cape Verde

Suspected hijackers arrested, unanswered questions remain

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The Arctic Sea, a Maltese-flagged and Finnish-owned cargo vessel which has been missing for over two weeks, was found late Sunday night approximately where it had been rumoured to be already on Friday: 480 kilometres from the island of Cape Verde off the Atlantic coast of Africa.
     Russia’s Minister of Defence Anatoly Serdyukov was quoted by the Ria Novosti news agency as saying on Tuesday that eight people were detained on suspicion of hijacking the ship.
      According to Serdyukov, the hijackers were citizens of Estonia, Latvia, and Russia. He also said that the liberation of the vessel took place without an exchange of gunfire.
     
“These people boarded the Arctic Sea, and demanded, at gunpoint, that the crew agree to all of their demands. After this, the Arctic Sea proceeded toward Africa, with the navigation equipment turned off”, Serdyukov said.
      However, he did not specify the exact time or place that this happened. He said that the investigation into the events is continuing on the Ladnyi, the Russian naval vessel which rescued the 15-member Russian crew.
     
The ship had left the Finnish port of Pietarsaari on July 22nd with a load of sawn timber. The destination was the Algerian port of Bejaïa.
      The crew later reported that in the early hours of July 24th, a group of hijackers impersonating Swedish police had boarded the ship on Sweden’s west coast, holding the crew while they searched the ship. The hijackers were said to have left the ship 12 hours later, not finding what they were looking for.
      Instead of heading for a port to deal with the incident, the Arctic Sea proceeded on its way to Algeria. It disappeared from radar screens and the Automatic Identification System (AIS) on July 29th off the south coast of England.
     
On Monday evening, the main news broadcast on Russian television showed Serdyukov telling Medvedev that the ship had been found, and that the members of the crew were alive and healthy.
      According to the report, the ship was found at about 1:00 AM Monday, Moscow time - Midnight Finnish time, and 11:00 PM CET. Serdyukov said that the crew was “not under armed control” at the time.
     
Finland’s (NBI) National Bureau of Investigation says that most of the 15 crew members were moved from the Arctic Sea onto a Russian naval vessel. A few crew members were left on the Arctic Sea to steer the ship.
      Officials in Cape Verde said that the crew would be flown to Moscow on Tuesday.
     
A number of questions remained open on Monday evening, and Russian officials were giving out few details.
      Russia’s Ambassador to NATO, Dmitri Rogozin admitted on Monday that during the search, misinformation was deliberately fed to the media to keep the real movements of the Russian Navy from coming out.
      There were various reports that the ship had been located off Gibraltar, the French Coast, en route to North America, and Cape Verde. Rogozin says that the operation was a success.
      “This operation will be a textbook example on how to implement a practical operation and keep the information linked with it a secret”, Rogozin said.
      Markku Ranta-aho of the NBI said that Finland had not disseminated any false information.
      “I will admit that we have kept some information a secret in order to protect the crew, but no false information has been given out. It could be that Russia has given out disinformation to protect the operation.”
      The NBI says that it knew for some time before the Russian Navy captured the ship, that the Arctic Sea had been located, and was being tracked.
     
Although the search for the Arctic Sea is over, The NBI’s Markku Ranta-aho says that the investigation into the case is only beginning. The exact course of events remains murky, and theories put forward during the odyssey of the Arctic Sea have ranged from an actual hijacking to drug running, to insurance fraud to an exercise in bolstering national prestige - just to name a few.
      The NBI had said last Saturday that there had been a ransom demand from the ship, and it believes that hijackers were on board the ship during the whole time that it was missing.
      Swedish police, who are also investigating the matter, had nothing new to report on Monday.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Missing Arctic Sea cargo vessel pursued by rumours and Russian Navy (14.8.2009)
  Director of shipping line: Arctic Sea probably hijacked (13.8.2009)
  Stora Enso has EUR 1.3 million worth of timber in missing ship Arctic Sea (10.8.2009)
  Where are you, Arctic Sea? (9.8.2009)
  Location of "hijacked" Arctic Sea freighter a mystery (7.8.2009)
  Swedish police silent on ship hijacking investigation (4.8.2009)
  Freight vessel of Finnish shipping line targeted by mystery pirates in Swedish waters (31.7.2009)

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