Arctic Sea crew members and hijackers flown from Cape Verde to Moscow

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The latest development in the saga of the hijacked cargo vessel Arctic Sea is that the fifteen crew members and the eight alleged hijackers have been brought ashore in Cape Verde and subsequently flown to Moscow.
      A Russian military aircraft carrying the crew and the hijackers - four Estonian citizens, two Russians resident in Estonia, and two Latvians - touched down on Thursday at an airbase near the capital, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
     
The suspects and the crew members were first questioned on Cape Verde about the events of the vessel's hijacking and disappearance (although as earlier stories have hinted, the vessel may not have vanished quite as comprehensively as was first believed).
      According to the Ria Novosti newsagency, the Russian frigate Ladnyi brought the men ashore on Wednesday afternoon.
      The first pictures of the crew, who were held hostage for three weeks by the pirates, were published in the evening. The crew members looked to be in relatively good shape after their ordeal.
     
The Russian Ministry of Defence revealed on Wednesday that tracer shells, the hijackers' rubber boat, and equipment for climbing aboard the Arctic Sea had been found on the vessel.
      According to the ministry statement, the crew had reported that the hijackers had been armed, but had thrown away their weapons when the Russian frigate ordered the Arctic Sea to stop.
      The Ministry of Defence spokesman also confimed that there had been a ransom demand for the vessel.
      The crew has apparently said that the pirates had threatened to blow the ship up if their demands were not met.
     
Finland's central criminal police, the National Bureau of Investigation, had earlier reported that a ransom demand was addressed both to the Finnish shipowner and to the Russian insurance company that had insured the vessel.
      Interfax confirmed that Vladimir Dushin, the deputy CEO of insurers Renaissance Strakhovanie, had reported receiving a ransom demand for USD 1.5 million by phone.
      The caller had threatened to shoot the crew and scuttle the ship. The demand was received on August 3rd. The Arctic Sea is insured for a total of four million dollars.
      According to the National Bureau of Investigation, the Arctic Sea itself was on its way to port in Cape Verde on Wednesday.
      When it docks, the ship's seaworthiness will be examined and it will have to undergo a formal inspection.
     
In spite of the safe recovery of the Arctic Sea and its crew, little more light has been thrown on the mystery of the Maltese-flagged and Finnish-owned cargo vessel's recent history.
      Rumours continue to abound over what might have happened, what the motives of the hijackers were, whether they acted alone, why the Russian authorities waited so long before acting (and why they then threw such considerable energy and resources into the exercise), and what the vessel might possibly have been carrying in addition to a less-than-inviting cargo of sawn timber worth EUR 1.3 million.
      The Arctic Sea left the Finnish port of Pietarsaari on July 22nd bound for Bejaïa in Algeria.
      The crew later reported that in the early hours of July 24th, a group of hijackers impersonating Swedish police had boarded the ship off 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 nearby port to deal with the incident, the Arctic Sea proceeded on its way to Algeria.
      It allegedly disappeared from radar screens and the Automatic Identification System (AIS) on July 29th off the south coast of England, though Maltese officials have since said that the movements of the ship had been tracked by Swedish, Finnish, and Maltese officials for days.
      The Maltese spokesman reported that a maritime safety committee with representatives from all three countries kept tabs on the vessel's whereabouts, but did not disclose the Arctic Sea's location for security reasons. .
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Russian Navy rescues Arctic Sea crew near Cape Verde (18.8.2009)
  Russia detains eight hijacking suspects on Arctic Sea (19.8.2009)

Links:
  MV Arctic Sea (Wikipedia)

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