The mystery of the ‘Artic Sea’ deepens

Remember the Artic Sea? The vessel with a full cargo of timber that disappeared en route from Finland to Algeria at the end of July was finally recovered off west Africa on August 17 and eight alleged hijackers were arrested. From the beginning there were all sort of rumors (see article “A ship is missing: pirates, terrorists? from August 13) while Russia denied the vessel was carrying a secret cargo claiming it was hijacked by criminals for a ransom. This official version has been challenged both in Tel Aviv and Moscow with claims that while being repaired in the Russian port of Kaliningrad, the ship had been loaded with S-300 missiles, a Russian anti-aircraft weapon, destined for Iran.
Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, which monitors arms supplies to Iran, would have tipped the Russian government indicating that former military officers linked to the underworld would have been the ones selling the shipment. Some sources in Moscow indicated that Mossad would have set up the hijacking of the ship with a criminal gang in order to create a lot of noise around the Artic Sea and thus prevent the cargo from reaching Iran.
Whatever the real truth is, we will probably will not know all of it. It certainly reads like a mixture of espionage and thriller that could make a best seller or a blockbuster movie.
he Arctic Sea, officially carrying a cargo of timber worth £1.3m, disappear