Irish owner ordered me to Greece, says 'A-bomb' skipper

For weeks, the creaky Balkan Sky, loaded with more than 600 tons of explosives, languished off the Turkish coast waiting for orders to set sail for Sudan with tons of explosives.

Then came a telex from the ship’s Irish owner: forget Africa and divert the cargo to a remote Greek port.

But Ukrainian skipper Anatolia Baltic claimed today he and his crew had no idea they were breaking the law when they sailed into Greek waters and straight into a team of waiting commandos – who had been tipped off about the ship’s movements by a Nato anti-terrorist task force.

A Greek minister described the vessel as a floating “atomic bomb.”

“I didn’t think I was doing something illegal,” Baltic said of the vessel’s nearly six-week odyssey. “It didn’t even cross my mind that terrorism was an issue.”

Baltic’s chronology – given after a nearly 90 minute hearing before an investigating magistrate – could answer some lingering questions about the ship and its cargo. But new mysteries also emerged.

Baltic said he had no explanation for the detour to Greece and believed the owners had notified Greek authorities of the new course.

“The ship owner is responsible for everything,” Baltic said.

That explanation, however, was not enough for Magistrate Alga Arslanoglu. After a closed-door hearing, Baltak and his crew of four Ukrainians and two Azerbaijanis were ordered jailed pending a full investigation.

“Neither the ship managers nor the ship owners have appeared until this moment to tell us what they want or even tell us who they are,” Merchant Marine Minister Giorgos Anomeritis said.

The crew faces charges of entering Greek territorial waters without informing officials of the load of 680 tons of ammonium nitrate-based explosives and detonators. The Baltic Sky, which took the cargo May 12 in Tunisia, was seized on Sunday.

“There will be a judicial investigation about the strange behaviour of this ship,” Anomeritis said. “I believe at some point these questions will be answered.”

Baltak identified the vessel’s “real owners” as Cristian McNulty of Ireland. Shipping documents say the vessel is controlled by a company in the tiny Pacific Island nation of Marshall Islands.

Several maritime sources, including the authoritative Lloyd’s List, have linked McNulty with a Sligo, Ireland-based company, Unithorn Ltd, which is listed as the ship’s manager.

Attempts to reach McNulty or Unithorn have been unsuccessful.

Money, or the lack of it, has emerged as a possible reason for the ship’s strange course – with the ship’s owner or manager perhaps holding out for more cash to deliver the cargo, some officials speculated.

Tunisia said the ship was legally loaded and Sudan gave Greece paperwork showing the cargo was ordered by a legitimate firm. The company claims the explosives are for industrial use and wants them returned.

Baltak said he took command of the ship in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 3 and had documents for the explosives. He had papers showing the cargo was for a Sudanese company.

He said he anchored the ship in the Dardanelles strait near the Aegean Sea to await orders on when to sail for Sudan.

On June 20, telex orders came to instead head for the little-used Ionian Sea port of Astakos, about 145 miles north-west of Athens. When the ship was spotted entering the Aegean Sea, Nato warned the Greeks. It was boarded off Astakos two days later.

:: The vessel was reportedly arrested in a British harbour earlier this year.

While held in Seaham, Co Durham, in January, the Sea Runner, as it was then called, was sold at auction for £22,000 (€3,814).

The crew had not been paid because of the mounting fines on the owners.

After minor repairs, it sailed from Seaham in March with a new name and flag: the Baltic Sky under the colours of the Indian Ocean state of Comoros, which openly advertises itself as an “Islamic flag of convenience”.