Double Hijack of "Arctic Sea" (ongoing)

[Magda Hassan]

Thanks Carsten



Malta may let in Arctic Sea dry cargo ship on some conditions

20.10.2009, 18.48


MOSCOW, October 20 (Itar-Tass) -- The Arctic Sea dry cargo ship may be permitted to visit a Maltese port on some conditions, a high-ranking source close to the Russian Navy staff told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
“Maltese authorities have recently set a number of new conditions, mostly technical and ecological, which must be met before the ship is allowed to visit the port,” he said.
“It is quite realistic to fulfill these demands,” the source noted.
Once the formalities are settled, a Russian warship will tow the dry cargo ship to the Maltese port and pass it under control of the owners.
“The Arctic Sea escorted by the Ladny patrol ship and a towboat has been anchored several miles east of Gibraltar since late September. The captain and three crewmembers stay onboard, and the detectives are gone,” the source said.
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office and the Malta police and maritime authorities completed investigative procedures onboard the ship off shore Las Palmas, the Canary Islands. It was planned that the ship would be transferred to the owner in Las Palmas but Spanish authorities did not permit the Arctic Sea to visit the port.
The cargo carried by the Arctic Sea had an Algerian buyer, and Russia offered to tow the ship to an Algerian port, where the ship could be handed over to the owner and the cargo to the buyer. Yet Algerian authorities refused to permit that.
The Arctic Sea belongs to a company with the same name registered in Malta. Solchart Arkhangelsk has a contract with the owner for operation of the ship.
The Arctic Sea flying the Maltese flag and operated by 15 Arkhangelsk sailors was due to bring timber from Finland to Algeria on August 4. Contact with the ship was lost on July 28. It appeared later that a high-speed inflatable boat carrying eight men approached the ship at 11:00 p.m. Moscow time on July 24. The men said their boat was out of order and embarked the Arctic Sea. The crewmembers said that the men were wearing black clothes with the word ‘Policia’ imprinted on the backs. The assailants ordered the crew to head for Africa and to disconnect navigation equipment.
A Russian warship found the Arctic Sea offshore Cape Verde on August 17 and released the crew without opening fire.
The international inquiry of the Arctic Sea dry cargo ship situation will go on, a source at the Finnish Central Criminal Police told Itar-Tass on October 9.
The international detective group includes representatives of Finland, Sweden, Malta, Latvia and Estonia. The group and Russian representatives held a two-day meeting in Vantaa, Finland.
The meeting focused on information collected in parallel investigations. The sides agreed to step up cooperation and compared their progress.
The international inquiry was launched in July 2009. Finland is investigating the ransom demanded for the seized ship.
On October 16 the Moscow Basmanny District Court extended arrest of the Arctic Sea suspected assailants until February 18 by request of the Russian Prosecutor General Office’s Investigation Committee.
“The judge extended custody of Andrei Lunev and Vitaly Lepin for three months and 29 days, i.e. until February 18,” Moscow City Court press secretary Anna Usachyova told Itar-Tass.
A similar decision was made for another six suspects earlier.
The Basmanny District Court authorized the arrest of eight suspected assailants of the Arctic Sea dry cargo ship, including two Russian citizens, one citizen of Estonia, one of Latvia and three stateless persons, on August 21.
Russian citizen Dmitry Bartenev, born in Tallinn in 1967, told the court that it had no right to hear the case because the events took place in Swedish territorial waters and the ship had the Maltese flag. Lawyer Konstantin Baranovsky said that an international investigative team, which had been formed recently, should hold the inquiry. He also said that the suspects’ file did not indicate their motive.
The suspected assailants pleaded not guilty and described themselves as environmentalists seeking assistance of the Arctic Sea crew. They also said they were not armed. “There was a gale and we were seeking refuge at the first vessel we saw,” Bartenev said.
Almost all of them but Borisov and Buleyev are unemployed. Borisov is a builder from Profsomnet, and Buleyev is a steel fixer from K-Most.
One of the suspects, Andrei Lunev, told the court he did not mind being taken into custody.
The suspects were brought to the Moscow Lefortovo detention ward on August 20, and charged with abduction and sea piracy.
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