"Hijacker" in Mysterious Arctic Sea Case Has Been Captured After 16 Years

 

A suspect who has been wanted by Russia for 16 years in connection with an alleged hijacking off Sweden has been arrested at last, according to authorities in Cyprus. 

In July 2009, the freighter Arctic Sea got under way from Jakobstad, Finland with a cargo of $1.8 million worth of lumber aboard, bound for Algeria. On July 24, the ship was in Swedish waters off Gotland when it was intercepted by a group of men in a rubber boat, according to the master. The vessel carried on its normal voyage, and the crew continued conversing over VHF and broadcasting AIS as usual until July 30, when the ship went dark off Brest. It was presumed hijacked, and a search warrant was issued for its capture and detention. 

For reasons undisclosed, the Russian Navy tasked five ships to locate and pursue the Arctic Sea in the Atlantic. On August 17, the Russian frigate Ladny intercepted and seized the vessel at a position off the Cape Verde Islands. The crew - all Russian nationals - were all alive and well; eight "hijackers" - Estonian, Latvian and Russian nationals - were arrested. 

From here, the story took an unusual turn. The shipowner claimed that they never received a ransom demand for the hijacking. The ship's Russia-based insurer said that it had received a demand, and that the alleged criminals wanted about $2 million. 

For their part, the accused claimed that they were environmentalists, and that their boat had run out of fuel - and, further, that the captain had held them hostage and diverted the ship towards West Africa. The judges were not swayed, and six were convicted and sentenced to long jail terms. The crew were interrogated, then released under a gag order and instructed never to talk about their experience. 

Speculation about the nature of the Arctic Sea affair has circulated for years, and in diplomatic circles it was not considered an act of "piracy" as Russia claimed. 

"It would seem that these acts, such as they have been reported, have nothing in common with 'traditional' acts of piracy or armed robbery at sea," said EU Commission spokesman Martin Selmayr at the time. 

One popular theory has it that the vessel was carrying an illicit and unauthorized cargo of Russian arms, loaded earlier in the voyage, and that the "hijackers" were a team sent by another nation (or by a disgruntled commercial partner) to intercept the weapons shipment. A senior Russian Navy officer confirmed this account to Komsomolskaya Pravda at the time. "I think that if [Arctic Sea's] journey had been successful, Russia could have ended up in a huge international scandal," the officer said. "We caught the boat to make sure we didn't end up in a nasty situation." (These suggestions were not welcomed by the Russian government: one Russian journalist who reported on the story had to flee the country after receiving threats for his coverage.)

Russia had an arrest warrant active for one more suspect in connection with the case - a man who had been released on bail while awaiting trial and had disappeared. Investigators had Interpol "red notice" open for his capture since 2009. The suspect, a Russian-Israeli national, walked off a cruise ship in Larnaca, Cyprus last weekend and was swiftly arrested after 16 years on the run. He had made no attempts to conceal his identity, and it is unclear how he had evaded capture until now. The man is being held pending extradition hearings to determine if he can be sent to Russia to stand trial.