Russian navy arrests Arctic Sea ‘hijackers’

THE Russian navy has arrested eight men accused of hijacking the Arctic Sea freighter near Sweden and forcing the crew to sail to west Africa — the latest twist in a puzzling maritime mystery.

Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said the suspected hijackers were detained by a Russian naval vessel that reached the Russian-crewed freighter on Monday about 480 km off Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean. That is thousands of kilometres from the Algerian port where the ship was supposed to dock two weeks ago.

The suspected hijackers — citizens of Estonia, Latvia and Russia — were reportedly arrested without a shot being fired. The ship’s 15 Russian crew members were safe and are being questioned.

The motive for seizing the freighter and its alleged cargo of timber remained unclear. Security and maritime experts said the Arctic Sea’s mysterious four-week journey pointed to something other than piracy, with some suggesting state involvement or a secret cargo, possibly of nuclear materials. The Arctic Sea left the Finnish port of Pietarsaari on July 21. On July 30, Swedish police said the ship’s owner had reported the crew claimed the vessel was boarded by masked men on July 24 near the Swedish island of Gotland.

The attackers reportedly tied up the crew, beat them, claimed they were looking for drugs, then sped off about 12 hours later in an inflatable craft. Serdyukov was quoted as saying the hijackers boarded the freighter under the pretext there was a problem with their inflatable craft.

The hijackers, who were armed, then forced the crew to change course and turned off the Arctic Sea’s navigation equipment. By the time the Swedish report of the attack had emerged, the ship had already passed through the English Channel, where it made its last known radio contact on July 28.

Signals from the ship’s tracking device were picked up off France’s coast late the next day, but that was the last known trace of it until Monday. The ship’s signal going dead co-incided with news of the reported attack.

The disappearance of the 320ft freighter had perplexed officials.

Mikhail Voitenko, the editor of the online Maritime Bulletin-Sovfracht, said yesterday he had spoken overnight with some of the Arctic Sea’s sailors and was more puzzled than ever. “The vessel had all the... modern means of communication and emergency alarms... To hijack the vessel so no one makes a peep — not one alarm goes off — can you imagine how that could be? I can’t,” he said.

Voitenko, whose company Sovfracht specialises in anti-piracy security consulting, said the hijacking was beyond the means of ordinary pirates. “The operation cost more than the cargo and ship combined,” he said.

The 18-year-old freighter officially had a cargo of timber worth only €1.3 million. Voitenko said he suspected the freighter was carrying an undeclared cargo and state interests were involved. He refused to elaborate.