The Arctic Sea, the mysterious ghost ship that had disappeared 16 years ago, returns to the forefront as Cypriot authorities arrested the suspect for its piracy. A case full of mystery, theories, and naval secrets.
In a case that has remained a mystery for years, a man who had been wanted by Russia for 16 whole years for the alleged piracy of a cargo ship off the coast of Sweden was finally arrested in Cyprus, according to local authorities.
The story unfolded in July 2009, when the cargo ship Arctic Sea sailed from Jakobstad, Finland, with a cargo of lumber worth 1.8 million dollars, destined for Algeria.
According to the Captain, on July 24, while the ship was sailing in Swedish waters off Gotland, it was attacked by a group of men who approached on a speedboat.
The ship immediately afterwards continued its journey transmitting a signal via its AIS, while the crew continued to communicate normally via VHF until July 30, when it suddenly disappeared off the coast of Brest. It was estimated to have fallen victim to piracy and a search warrant was issued for its arrest and detention.
For reasons that were never made known, the Russian Navy assigned five ships to locate and pursue the Arctic Sea in the Atlantic. On August 17, the Russian frigate Ladny immobilized and captured the ship off the Cape Verde Islands.
The crew, all Russian nationals, were alive and in good health. Eight pirates, nationals of Estonia, Latvia, and Russia, were arrested.
From that point on, the case took an unusual turn. The shipowner claimed he never received a ransom demand for the piracy. The ship’s Russian-based insurance company stated it had received a demand and that the alleged pirates wanted about 2 million dollars.
For their part, the accused claimed they were environmentalists and that their boat had run out of fuel and that the captain had held them hostage and diverted the ship towards West Africa!
The judges were not swayed by all this and sentenced the six pirates to long prison terms. The crew was interrogated, then released with an order never to speak about the case.
Speculations about the nature of the Arctic Sea case have circulated for years in diplomatic circles, as it was not considered an act of “piracy” as Russia claimed.
This case does not resemble known cases of piracy or armed robbery at sea, the European Commission spokesman, Martin Selmayr, stated at the time.
One theory maintains that the ship was carrying an illegal and unauthorized cargo of Russian weapons, loaded earlier in the voyage, and that the alleged pirates were a group sent from another state (or from a disgruntled trade partner) to take the weapons cargo.
A senior Russian Naval officer confirmed this version in his interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda at the time.
“I think that if the Arctic Sea’s voyage had been successful, Russia could have ended up in a huge international scandal,” the officer said.
“We took the ship to ensure we wouldn’t find ourselves in a bad situation.”
As expected, the Russian officer’s statements were not at all pleasing to the Russian government, with a Russian journalist who published the story being forced to leave the country after receiving threats for his coverage.
Russia had an active arrest warrant for another suspect in the case, a man who had been released on bail pending his trial and had disappeared. Investigators had an open Interpol “red notice” for his arrest since 2009.
The suspect, a Russian-Israeli citizen, disembarked from a cruise ship in Larnaca, Cyprus last weekend and was quickly arrested after 16 years of pursuit.
He did not attempt to conceal his identity and it is not clear how he had evaded arrest until now. The man is being held pending his extradition hearing to determine if he can be sent to Russia for trial.
Behind this case lies a story that seems to have come out of a spy novel, and whose truth may never be fully revealed. The situation of the cargo ship’s crew also remains unknown, a crew which may have known enough about the truth.
As a man of the sea, I can say with certainty that the Arctic Sea case is a characteristic example of how the sea can hide secrets that never reach the surface.
This is surely going to be another one of the stories we have heard and which is very likely to be filed away, at least for all of us ordinary mortals…
