So the “Arctic Sea” is a ship managed by a Finnish company, manned by Russians, and owned by a Maltese company. It was allegedly carrying a fairly harmless and uninteresting cargo - timber - from Finland to Algeria. It’s gone missing in European waters, and now reports of its whereabouts and reasons for its disappearance are all over the map.
Here’s the latest story I’ve seen (from the BBC):
CNN has more details here:
More information can be sifted through on Wikipedia:
This is starting to sound more and more like the plot of a new Splinter Cell game than a normal run-of-the-mill Somali style hijacking. I read yesterday that there were reports that the ship was hijacked twice, once off the coast of Finland by a group of men masquerading as drug police, and a second time off the coast of Portugal. But now it seems like the BBC is backing off those reports (or just not mentioning it in their most recent articles).
It also seems like there is disputes between the governments about where they’ve last seen the ship. According to the CNN article, Russia is searching with military ships in the area and is denying that the ship has been spotted off Cape Verde, which conflicts with a number of other governments who have reported sighting the ship off Cape Verde. And now the BBC article says that the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation is refusing to let the location of the ship be known out of concern for the crew’s safety.
This seems to be far more than a normal case of ransom-motivated piracy to me. Why Finland when Somalia is such easy pickings? The last time a ship was hijacked in Finnish waters was in the sixteenth century. Why sneak way out into the Atlantic before allegedly making demands? How are you planning to get away after receiving your ransom?
I’ve been following this story, sketchy as it is, and it is really weird. I agree that it is very possible there is a lot more than meets the eye. If the Russians say it is just carrying timber, I can guess that might easily be bunk. It may instead be carrying drugs, armaments, nuclear fuel. Or maybe Aliens.
Or maybe aliens hijacked it to take back to another galaxy?
I hope there is some resolution of what happened to ease my thwarted curiosity.
Well, apparently it was found somewhere outside Cape Verde, and the 15 crewmembers have been freed, 8 hijackers detained. No shots fired. It’s still a bit sniffy though. Hopefully some further explanations will emerge.
This all sounds really, really strange. When other countries stormed pirate-controlled ships off Somalia, it was huge news. Definitely gun shots. Fatalities. A lot of media coverage. A clear motive.
Why is everyone quiet on this? Why would you hijack a ship, run out into the Atlantic, demand a ransom, and then… what? So you get paid, and then where are you supposed to be leaving? I don’t understand.
It’s still a very large leap to arrive at the conclusion that there must have been nuclear material, bombs, or Kh-55 missiles as some articles claim. I haven’t seen any evidence for such theories, as it appears to be purely speculation grounded on a “Russia evil” mindset. Apparently the hijackers consisted of four Estonians, two Latvians and two Russians, possibly all of Russian ethnicity. It might have been something mafia related, but who knows?
