Russia to search ship for unlisted freight

RUSSIA'S TOP general says the military will search the Arctic Seato discover whether the ship, which was allegedly hijacked while carrying timber from Finland to Algeria, contains a secret cargo.

Mystery surrounds a vessel that Moscow says was boarded off the Swedish coast on July 24th by eight armed men dressed as police, who turned off its electronic positioning systems and forced the crew to sail for the west coast of Africa.

Russia dispatched warships to stop the Arctic Sea, and servicemen boarded the ship and arrested the alleged hijackers off the Cape Verde islands on August 17th. The suspects and crew were immediately flown to Moscow for questioning.

Misinformation and contradictory Russian reports about the ship have led media and some international officials to question its cargo, with some suggesting that it may secretly have been transporting drugs, weapons or even nuclear material.

“We want to make sure that there is nothing but timber on board this ship. The motive for the seizure is simply not very clear,” said Nikolai Makarov, chief of Russia’s general staff.

“We only know it is [carrying] timber, but what else it is actually transporting has yet to be clarified.”

Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the Russian prosecutor-general’s main investigations unit, also said yesterday that the ship may have been carrying something other than wood. Just hours later, however, a spokesman for his department insisted that there was “no evidence” of a clandestine cargo and denied any cover-up.

Clarity has been at a premium throughout the case. After announcing that maritime authorities had lost track of the ship, Russia now claims to have known where it was all the time; reports from Moscow say the suspects deny hijacking and insist they are simply ecologists who boarded the Arctic Seabecause their boat ran into trouble.

Russia also initially identified the eight alleged attackers as Russians, Estonians and Latvians, but now says four of the men are actually “stateless”. Russian media also reports that the crew members are not being allowed to talk to their relatives.

It has also emerged the ship underwent unspecified “repairs” before setting sail in Kaliningrad.

Piracy is extremely rare in well-policed northern European waters and experts ask why anyone would seize an unsophisticated ship carrying barely €1 million worth of timber and then sail for Africa.