Home
News
In Focus
Business
Metro
Nation
World
Sports
Feature
Opinion
View more »Opinion Columns
Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
Restaurants get off to a quick start thanks to game-changing policies
High service charges on event ticket refunds call for further regulation
Sunday
- Subscribe
Cargo ship hijackers questioned in Moscow
Source: Agencies |
August 21, 2009, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
RUSSIAN authorities flew the suspected hijackers of the cargo vessel Arctic Sea to Moscow yesterday and took them for interrogation, dismissing suggestions that the ship may have been carrying weapons.
The Russian Navy tracked the ship into the Atlantic after what Moscow has termed an act of piracy and boarded it off the Cape Verde islands early on Monday, freeing the 15 Russian crewmen.
The mass of conflicting details in a saga that began with the ship's apparent disappearance last month have sparked speculation that it may have been targeted because it was carrying a secret cargo of arms or even nuclear materials.
The suspected pirates - nationals of Estonia, Latvia and Russia - were flown to Chkalovsky military airfield from Cape Verde aboard an Ilyushin-76 aircraft, then whisked off to the Lefortovo high-security prison.
"The eight men ... have been handed over to the Prosecutor-General's main investigative unit," Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told President Dmitry Medvedev, according to a Kremlin spokeswoman.
Two more aircraft also flew investigators and 11 of the 15-man crew to Moscow.
Four crew members, including the captain, remained on the ship, which Serdyukov said would be towed to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk for "further investigative measures."
Russia said the Arctic Sea was hijacked on July 24 off the coast of Sweden by eight armed men, who forced the crew to sail for Africa with its positioning systems switched off.
The hijackers - who Russian investigators said were wearing black police uniforms - then threatened to blow up the ship if their ransom demands were not met, the Defense Ministry said.
The Russian Navy tracked the ship into the Atlantic after what Moscow has termed an act of piracy and boarded it off the Cape Verde islands early on Monday, freeing the 15 Russian crewmen.
The mass of conflicting details in a saga that began with the ship's apparent disappearance last month have sparked speculation that it may have been targeted because it was carrying a secret cargo of arms or even nuclear materials.
The suspected pirates - nationals of Estonia, Latvia and Russia - were flown to Chkalovsky military airfield from Cape Verde aboard an Ilyushin-76 aircraft, then whisked off to the Lefortovo high-security prison.
"The eight men ... have been handed over to the Prosecutor-General's main investigative unit," Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told President Dmitry Medvedev, according to a Kremlin spokeswoman.
Two more aircraft also flew investigators and 11 of the 15-man crew to Moscow.
Four crew members, including the captain, remained on the ship, which Serdyukov said would be towed to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk for "further investigative measures."
Russia said the Arctic Sea was hijacked on July 24 off the coast of Sweden by eight armed men, who forced the crew to sail for Africa with its positioning systems switched off.
The hijackers - who Russian investigators said were wearing black police uniforms - then threatened to blow up the ship if their ransom demands were not met, the Defense Ministry said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
