Arctic Sea mystery

While the interrogation of the crew members continues, Russian defense officials said that what they have learned is that the pirates had threatened to blow up the Arctic Sea.

"Crew members confirm that the hijackers demanded a ransom and threatened to blow the ship up if their orders were not obeyed," said an unnamed official of the defense ministry, according to the Russian Interfax news agency.

As the Russian naval vessel Ladny approached the Arctic Sea, the hijackers dumped their arms overboard. However, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, the navy seized a small rubber dinghy which the pirates used to board the ship, climbing gear, flares and a quantity of arms.

It is believed that there were eight hijackers - two Russians, two Latvians and four Estonians.

Estonian Foreign Ministry officials handed over a note to the Russian Embassy in Tallinn asking them to confirm the presence of Estonian citizens among the hijackers.

"We have nothing new since yesterday. We handed over a note asking about the circumstances, but we have not received any information yet," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mariann Sudakov on Wednesday.

Latvian Foreign Ministry spokesman Gints Serafinovics said the Latvian government was also waiting for a response from Moscow.

"We haven't had any information yet after contacting our Russian colleagues yesterday afternoon," said Serafinovics.

A statement from the Malta Maritime Authority released on August 18 said that the vessel's whereabouts had been known for several days, and that investigators had decided to keep quiet so as not to endanger the crew.

"There was consensus amongst the investigating authorities of Finland, Malta and Sweden not to disclose any sensitive information in order not to jeopardize the lives and safety of the persons on board and the integrity of the ship," said a statement from the Maltese authority.

Limited information

There are sceptics though, who are concerned by the limited amount of information being released by the Russian authorities about the hijacking.

And in the absence of hard facts, rumors abound.

Conspiracy theorists are having a field day, and some of the explanations being proffered for the hijacking run the gamut from drug smuggling to a dispute between Russian organized crime gangs.

Other possibilities include the theory that the ship was carrying low grade spent nuclear fuel destined for terrorists, and that it was stopped and boarded by a US Navy SEAL team with geiger counters.

According to a report on the Radio Free Europe website, Mikhail Voytenko, the editor-in-chief of "Morskoy Byulleten-Sovfrakht" (The Sea Bulletin-Soviet Freight) online magazine, noted that the whole story is unusual and does not seem to bear the hallmarks of a pirate hijacking.

Voytenko also observed that the ship was clearly hijacked by trained professionals, who were experts in communication systems aboard contemporary sea vessels.

As the ship was carrying lumber worth approximately one million euros, Voytenko asked the obvious question, "Who needs that kind of ship with that kind of cargo aboard?" He also said that the whole operation probably cost more than the cargo was worth.

Then there is the matter of the ship being able to sail undetected through very high traffic areas of the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the English Channel.

Voytenko contends that that is not what ordinary pirates do and that some states or state interests might have been involved in the incident.

Voytenko suggests there may have been state support or involvement in this hijacking.

A strange odyssey

The incident began when the ship left Finland on July 23 and headed for Algeria. Sometime during the night, according to earlier news reports, the ship was boarded by a group of men claiming to be Swedish narcotics police. Now, according to the Russian defense ministry, the men claimed that their boat had broken down and the Arctic Sea stopped to assist them.

The next day, the ship reported to Swedish authorities that they had been boarded during the night by armed, masked men, who, for the next 12 hours, had beaten crew members and smashed communications equipment.

In spite of that, the Swedish navy did not send a ship out to investigate, and the Arctic Sea continued sailing.

Its last point of contact with authorities was on July 28 when it radioed the British Maritime and Coast Guard agency, a required communication protocol for ships that pass through the heavily traveled English Channel.

After that, the ship went silent and a massive search ensued in which numerous nations were involved.

The ship was finally found off the Cape Verde Islands off the West Coast of Africa.

av/dpa/Reuters/AFP/AP
Editor: Susan Houlton