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Europe
Hijacked FreighterÂ’s Russian Crew Questioned in Moscow
2009-08-21
Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Eleven Russian crewmembers of the Finnish-owned freighter Arctic Sea, hijacked off Sweden, and eight suspected attackers were questioned in Moscow nearly a month after the boat was seized.
They're just not going to be feeling so good right now ...
The crew said the hijackers, dressed in black clothes bearing the word “POLICIA,” boarded the Maltese-flagged freighter Arctic Sea after approaching in an inflatable speedboat, according to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office. Their statements corroborated a Swedish police report issued last month.

Four crewmembers remained on the Arctic Sea, owned by Helsinki-based Oy Solchart Management AB, while it was being towed to RussiaÂ’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told President Dmitry Medvedev by telephone today, according to Natalya Timakova, MedvedevÂ’s spokeswoman.

The story is “day by day becoming clearer” and Russia is in the best position to make progress on the case since it has the suspects in custody, Superintendent Rabbe von Hertzen of the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation said by telephone from Vantaa, Finland. Finland, Malta, and Sweden are cooperating with Russia, von Hertzen said. “As to the question of where the case will be tried, that will be discussed later on,” he said.

Von Hertzen dismissed media reports of a secret cargo on the ship and a possible cover-up by Russia as “speculation.”
And why would we ever question otherwise?
EstoniaÂ’s Security Police today said six of the detainees are residents of Estonia, including two Russian citizens, one Estonian citizen and three others, spokesman Andres Kahar said by telephone in Tallinn. Most of the detainees have criminal records related to narcotics and offenses against people and property, Kahar said, adding that Russia hasnÂ’t asked for assistance.

Russia learned of the Arctic Sea’s location “several days” before the warship Ladny reached the freighter, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the government’s newspaper of record, reported this week.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization monitored the search and supplied information using its maritime tracking capabilities after receiving RussiaÂ’s request for assistance, a NATO official said by phone from Brussels. He declined to be identified, citing the allianceÂ’s policy.

Russia is checking the nationalities of the suspected hijackers and will keep Maltese and Finnish authorities informed as the investigation proceeds, RussiaÂ’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement today.
Posted by:Steve White

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Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie   2009-08-21 13:50  

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Posted by: JFM   2009-08-21 11:10  

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Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2009-08-21 01:45  

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