Arctic Sea: eight arrested after ship discovered

The Russian navy has arrested eight suspects after it located the missing cargo ship Arctic Sea near the Cape Verde islands, says Russia's defence minister, seeming to confirm that an act of piracy unparalleled in modern European waters did indeed take place.

Anatoly Serdyukov said the arrests were made onboard the freighter, 2,500 miles from its intended destination in Algeria. Following a weekend of joint Russia-Nato surveillance, the rescue operation was apparently mounted, and the eight Estonian, Latvian and Russian hijackers arrested, without a single shot being fired.

The Arctic Sea 'disappeared' off France on July 30 when its automatic tracking system either broke or was switched off. Shortly afterwards, it emerged that the vessel had been boarded by bogus drugs police off the west coast of Sweden. It was reported that the intruders had disembarked after several hours. Maltese shipping authorities now say the alarm about the hijack was not raised until after the Arctic Sea had passed through the English channel and it seems possible that the bogus policemen remained on the ship throughout.

Much of the mystery was the result of a media blackout to protect the crew

On Saturday, it was reported that the Finnish-based owners, Solchart, had received a ransom request for nearly £1m. However, the demand was never confirmed as genuine – another confusing element in a fog of uncertainty which led to wild claims and conspiracy theories.

It is possible that much of this mystery was the result of a media blackout imposed by the military and government agencies to protect the 15 crew on board the ship while negotiations with hijackers took place.

All 15 are said to be safe and well and according to Russia were not being held "under armed control" when the Arctic Sea was boarded from the Russian anti-submarine frigate, Ladny, late on Sunday night – which might suggest successful negotiations had taken place. They are on their way to the Cape Verde island of Sal this morning, from where they will fly to Moscow by military plane.

Serdyukov told Russian media that "after claiming that their boat was not working [the hijackers] boarded the Arctic Sea and using the threat of arms, demanded that the crew follow all of their orders without condition". He added: "Then the Arctic Sea moved on to an African route indicated by the aggressors after turning off navigation equipment. Eight people - not members of the crew - have been detained."

Yesterday, the director of the Arctic Sea's operating company, Viktor Matveyev, told the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper: "We are extremely pleased, we've been told everyone is alive and nobody was hurt... I can't say any more. I'm rushing to a meeting to organise getting the crew home, checking their health and providing any help. We still don't know what condition the ship is in". ·