It had been an uneventful night for the Russian sailor steering the cargo ship Arctic Sea across the Baltic when, at 2.10am, he was confronted by eight masked men. Armed with AK-47 assault rifles and handguns, they forced him into the vessel’s living quarters. They swiftly tied up the rest of the crew in their cabins.
Speaking English, the gunmen claimed to be Swedish drugs squad officers acting on a tip-off that the ship was smuggling heroin. One had “Polis” on his uniform. Their accents, however, were east European.
“They tied us with duct tape and plastic flex, gagged us and confiscated our mobiles,” one of the sailors recalled. “Three crewmen who put up a fight were beaten. A young cadet on his first trip had his front teeth smashed by a gunman who hit him with the butt of his machinegun.”
The intruders had boarded from a rubber dinghy equipped with a global positioning system for navigation and electronics capable of detecting the Arctic Sea ’s automatic identification system (AIS), which marked its position.
“It quickly became apparent that we’d been seized by criminals. We’d no idea why,” the sailor said.
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Great story, thanks for the link.
I’m guessing mafia-related nuclear waste dumping with the collusion of the FSB.
Sounds movie-worthy. I doubt we’ll ever know the truth. Whoever put those pirates up to probably has deep knowledge of where their family lies. Since we’re talking about Russia and the rules are a bit relaxed with what the powerful can do …