1.
Mother said Josh Powell threatened her
MOSCOW, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- A top European Union official says Israel may have intercepted the cargo ship Arctic Sea because it was carrying Russian missiles bound for the Middle East.
The ship disappeared off Portugal in late July. Eight alleged hijackers, captured by Russians later, claimed they were environmentalists, ABC News reported. The Russian, Estonian and Latvian nationals were charged with piracy and kidnapping.
"There is the idea that there were missiles aboard, and one can't explain this situation in any other way," EU's rapporteur on piracy, Estonian Adm. Tarmo Kouts, told Time magazine.
Kouts confirmed he believes Israel was behind the interception of the Arctic Sea, ABC News reported. "As a sailor with years of experience, I can tell you that the official versions are not realistic."
ABC said the official version is that the ship was sailing from Finland to Algeria with $1.5 million in lumber, but on July 24 it was boarded by hijackers in the Baltic Sea. The crew radioed after 12 hours that the hijackers had left and they were continuing the voyage. ABC said there was no more radio contact after the vessel passed through the English Channel a few days later, and the Arctic Sea disappeared from radar screens July 29.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev two weeks later ordered the Russian Navy to find the ship, and the navy located the vessel Aug. 17 off the Cape Verde Islands, ABC said. The Russian navy claimed to have retaken the ship without firing a shot, with the hijackers still on board.
The Russian navy has been towing it to a Black Sea port so investigators can find out what cargo it was carrying, a Russian official told Interfax.
A Russian maritime expert who broke the story Aug. 8 agrees with the Israeli theory.
"I can't think of any other reason," Mikhail Voitenko told ABC News by phone. "I just can't explain it by any other way. Not by piracy, it's foolish. What piracy?"
Voitenko spoke from Istanbul, Turkey, after receiving a phone call telling him to get out of Russia or he'd be arrested, ABC reported.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Additional Top News Stories | |
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) --
The late Steve Jobs, co-founder of the U.S. computer giant Apple, had faults in his personal life but was a business visionary, associates told the FBI.
|
NEW YORK, Feb. 9 (UPI) --
Macaulay Culkin is in "perfectly good health," his publicist said after the former child star was photographed looking gaunt and disheveled in New York.
|
TEL AVIV, Israel, Feb. 9 (UPI) --
The Israeli government plans to build a floating liquefied natural gas terminal with a sea-based defense radar system off its Mediterranean coast while forming a naval force to protect its rich offshore gas fields against terrorist attack.
|
BREDA, Netherlands, Feb. 9 (UPI) --
A Dutch collector has said he's willing to sell his collection of rare liquors -- which he calls the world's largest -- for $8 million.
|
| Stories | Photos | People | Comments |
View Caption
