Reports of Cape Verde sighting contradicted by Russian claims
MMA launch criminal investigation
Matthew Vella
A ransom demand has been made for the lost Maltese flagged merchant ship Arctic Sea, Finnish media said yesterday, but the whereabouts of the vessel were still unknown.
The Finnish, Swedish and Maltese authorities have now launched investigations into the alleged aggravated extortion and hijacking of the cargo vessel Maltese-flagged MV Arctic Sea.
The saga of the missing ship and its 15-member Russian crew was believed to be finally coming to a close after the ship was reportedly located near the Cape Verde islands, just off Senegal.
The cargo had to deliver a $1.3-million cargo of timber to the Algerian port of Bejaia on August 4, but was allegedly hijacked in the Baltic Sea and passed unchecked from the English Channel into the Atlantic Ocean.
Speculation has fuelled question over the real cargo the ship could be transporting. Moscow even sent warships to find it.
The hijacking of the ship, believed to be carried out by pirates, is unprecedented in European waters, unlike the wave of piracy in Somalia.
A French navy spokesman said the ship was still probably in the southern Atlantic heading towards Brazil.
But while the French say the ship could be still off Cape Verde, after being spotted by the Portuguese airforce, a Russian envoy claimed on Friday that the Cape Verde sighting was untrue.
Now more than 20 countries as well as Interpol and Europol are contributing to th international investigation.
The cargo vessel Arctic Sea, registered under the Maltese flag, was hijacked in Swedish waters on 24 July 2009 at about 3am. The Arctic Sea was boarded by a group of eight to twelve persons allegedly masked and wearing uniforms bearing the word ‘Police’, and armed with guns and pistols.
Access to the vessel was gained using a black coloured rubber boat which allegedly also bore the word ‘Police’. The same craft was used by the assaulting persons to depart from the ship some twelve hours later heading in an easterly direction from the ship’s position.
During their stay onboard, the members of the crew were allegedly assaulted, tied, gagged, and blindfolded and some of them were seriously injured. All crew members were ‘hard’ questioned for a considerable amount of time. The questioning was related to drug trafficking.
Later, all crew members were released from their bindings but were locked within cabins until the alleged police rummaged the vessel thoroughly.
The Finnish shipping company that owns the vessel reported the case to the Finnish police which referred it to the Swedish police.
The Arctic Sea was allegedly spotted on Friday off the northern coast of Cape Verde after going missing on July 28, after passing through the English Channel. Radio messages from the freighter were picked up along coasts of France and Portugal.
At that time, the French ministry of defence said coastguards had confirmed the Arctic Sea was about 520 miles off the former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde.
However, the authorities have not been able to confirm the alleged hijacking, and the connection between the alleged incident and the later events has not been established yet.
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