The Arctic Sea cargo does not conform to the declared – the source

17.09.2009 Source: RIA Novosti

The investigators have found that the cargo of Arctic Sea vessel freed by Russian mariners does not conform to officially declared – the ship transported pine timber instead of mahogany, said to RIA Novosti one of the crew members awared of details in phone talk from Arkhangelsk on Wednesday.

The cargo ship with 15-men Russian crew aboard sailed from Finland to Algeria; after its disappearance late July it was found in the Atlantic near Cabo Verde on Aug, 16. As to investigators, the Arctic Sea ship was hijacked by 8 citizens of Estonia, Latvia and Russia. The Black Sea Fleet mariners conducted a bloodless operation on crew's release. There were versions in media that the cargo of Arctic Sea was drugs and even S-300 missiles.

"As a consequence of investigative actions – the search of the ship and inspection of documents available – it was confirmed that the cargo vessel was carrying pine timber instead of declared more valuable mahogany", said the talker to the agency.

Totally there are over 6 000 t of timber aboard Arctic Sea currently remaining off Canaries' coast.

"It is not improbable that the ship's owner had also declared mahogany instead of pine timber in insurance documents. Therefore, the roles of the ship proprietor and the cargo owner are still unclear", the source said.

It appears to him that the issue of insured risks payment remains open, but according to worldwide practice and international legislation, the criminals should compensate damage in case of ship hijacking.

"The Arctic Sea matter has become an international issue, since Latvia, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Malta are concerning somehow", the talker added.

RIA Novosti has not interviewed the ship's owner yet.

As it was said by Investigative Committee at the RF Public Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday, the experts of the committee had competed investigative actions aboard Arctic Sea and would leave the vessel by Sept, 18.