RIGA - Russia reported that it will hold the crew of the Arctic Sea until the Finnish-owned freighter is searched for contraband and the circumstances of its July 24 hijacking off the Swedish coast are cleared up, said the country's chief investigator, reports Bloomberg. Detailed information about the hijacking will be available upon completion of the inspection, "to eliminate any dark spots in this story," said Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General's Office.
"We need to be sure this ship was carrying nothing but lumber," said Nikolai Makarov, head of the Russian military's General Staff, adding that "The motivation for the seizure just isn't very clear."
Makarov said the Arctic Sea, owned by Helsinki-based Oy Solchart Management AB, will reach the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk within the first ten days of September. The freighter was intercepted by a Russian naval ship on Aug. 17 off the Cape Verde islands, ending a 25-day odyssey that sparked a wave of international speculation about its fate, and subsequently its cargo.
A preliminary search reportedly turned up no suspicious cargo on the ship, Russia's Foreign Ministry reported on its Web site. Russia has charged eight suspects in the case. Of the eight suspects, one is an Estonian citizen, and two are Latvian residents, one a citizen, reports news agency AFP.
While seven of the men were charged with participation in piracy and armed kidnapping, prosecutors said, the eighth is being charged as the apparent mastermind of the operation.
"The eighth suspect has been charged with organizing the above-mentioned crimes," read the Russian prosecutor's statement.
When the Russian navy boat drew alongside the Arctic Sea, the captain claimed the Maltese- flagged vessel was North Korean, the Foreign Ministry said.
The Maltese-flagged vessel with a crew of 15 Russian sailors was officially heading to Algeria with a load of timber, but media have been awhirl with rumors the vessel may have held weapons or even nuclear materials.
