Missing ship may have secret cargo

This is interesting to read if you are interested about AIS and guidelines to crew how to use AIS.
GUIDELINES FOR THE ONBOARD OPERATIONAL USE OF SHIPBORNE
AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS (AIS):
/guidelinesais


But please, continue the discussion....

Originally posted by ArMaP
reply to post by Gordi The Drummer

 

The "original size" may look like it's not there because the top left of the map is white, that fooled me the first time I checked it.

If it does not work then just tell me and I will give you an alternative way of getting that image.

[edit on 16-8-2009 by northwoods]

Ah ok, I missed that earlier. Nantes AIS-station were received signal from Biscaya Bay and now it has been turned off and therefore Biscaya bay is totally in AIS blackout. Maybe there is really happening something on Biscaya that investigators don't want us to see.

[edit on 16-8-2009 by northwoods]

[edit on 16-8-2009 by northwoods]

Is it me or has MSM gone completely silent on this?

Bay of Biscay is in AIS blackout now, following the Arctic Sea AIS transponder signal being recorded there yesterday.
RAF Chinooks have been seen/photographed heading into and out of the area, and may have transported cargo, crew or special forces units complete with inflatables away from Arctic Sea, around the time AIS was initially switched off on 29/7.
A ransom demand may, or may not have been made.
The Russians may, or may not have the situation in control.
The Finnish may or may not have made radiation checks in Pietarsaal.
Something HUGE has just happened.
The level of dis-information, conflicting evidence, contradictions, lies and evidence tampering is beyond belief. But here we are, and this is happening.
I still stand by my earlier hypothesis that nukes (or other dangerous/sensitive materials) were being smuggled out of Kaliningrad, under the cover of a genuine timber cargo from Finland, headed for the middle east via Algeria. The US/UK found out. Special forces boarded the Arctic Sea, found hidden cargo and initiated a plan to both remove said cargo and confuse Russians and anyone else watching, by faking AIS transponder signal, spreading "piracy" and "hijacking" rumours etc.
The vessel itself was probably ghosted away to some quiet naval installation, probably in UK, maybe France. Cargo removed, then maybe, vessel returned to Bay of Biscay, where transponder was briefly switched on, alerting russians et al, who have now shut down AIS in Bay Of Biscay while trying to figure out what happened!
Crew / Hidden Cargo / Special Forces may also have been removed by Chinooks seen in the area on 29/7.
Anyone got any better ideas?

I'm from Porto.
Everyday there are cargo boats there.
Mainly fish.

In north Spain, thats the same.

There is an US military basis, in Azores, off the coast of Portugal and Spain.
Our government does not interfere there, so that is one LIKELY option!!!!!!

Last year, there was disclosed the fact that many secret prisoners from the Middle East just stopped there, while in flight to the US.

Originally posted by Gordi The Drummer
I've just noticed on marinetraffic.com...
There are currently;
133 ships off Barcelona.
38 ships near Valencia.
55 off Malaga.
165 off Seville / Lisbon
Then... as we travel north (into Bay of Biscay).... None.
Yes folks None. Not one vessel is registering on AIS off the ports of Porto, Santander, La Rochelle, Nantes....etc etc
Then just north of Bay of Biscay...
38 ships on the approach to the English channel,
and 359 actually entering the Channel.
Why the big gap with no vessels? Is this Normal?
Anyone know nore about AIS in this region?
Or has someone "turned off" AIS in the Bay of Biscay just now??

(If there's an AIS black hole in this area.... How did we detect the Arctic Sea transponder there yesterday???)

[edit on 16-8-2009 by Gordi The Drummer]

ok i think ive given up on the ransom idea now . but i do believe that the original hijacking/piracy attempt could of been commited by special forces.

sweden and uk forces work and train very closely .

if the reported radio message stating the attack had happened then i would imagine that some radio ham would of picked it up[ there must be thousands of people monitoring all channels on the vhf frequency.


the vessel did not put to port or seek assistance after the attack.

the track of the vessel would of put it in range of the best maritime anti terrorist units in the world .

3 chinooks flying out to sea and returning some 20 mins later while the arctic sea was in the area.

a ransom being demanded of [reported] only 1.5million.

why hijack a vessel in busy shipping lanes in well policed waters.

an investigation so far involving 20 countries.

could a four thousand ton freighter dissapear that easily without assistance

vessel sighted in bay of biscay , little AIS coverage in the area [deliberate?]

nobody is talking and information releases are being altered

radiation checks carried out on the vessel before leaving port

www.moscowtimes.ru...

Seemingly cold war style language used in this article.

An unidentified high-ranking military official in Brussels told Itar-Tass on Saturday that Artic Sea’s location had been determined, but that it was not announced for unclear reasons.

“We have the situation under control, and our partners are just sending us information. No other support is needed,” Rogozin said in comments on the Vesti-24 news channel. He said NATO was providing informational support but was not directly involved in the search, which is going “full swing.”

So no help needed, search was in full swing, but the Arctic Sea's location has been determined?

reply to post by thoughtsfull

Yep, Once again, smoke and mirrors, contradiction, mis-direction!
This has to be a bigee!! Just based on the level of dis-information being spread. Whatever they're covering up - it's huge!
I can't believe that more of us aren't questioning this???
There are over 10,000 intelligent, enquiring minds here on ATS alone, yet there only seems to be a handful, who are willing or able to seriously question the "official" line on this. Despite the many obvious instances of lies and deception taking place???
Come on ATS, Deny Ignorance, Seek The Truth.
This is huge, it's going down RIGHT NOW, in front of YOUR eyes, What are YOU doing about it??

My two cents

sea to air missile with nuclear payload in bay of biscay locked onto the champs élysées

reply to post by greenorbs


seems like a long shot to me

reply to post by Gordi The Drummer


I love a good theory and usually I sit in the back ground watching you guys chatter away.. I find it interesting and intriguing to watch the cat and mouse play.. while coming to my own conclusions.. and then seeing if I am right, or in need of a tin foil hat.

but this one feels different.. not just cat and mouse, but more like bear, chasing dog, chasing cat chasing mouse, and then it turns out the bear is the mouse, the dog is the cat..

All the reactions just feel wrong.. it is more than smoke and mirrors, too many officials are contradicting each other and getting in a fluster.. Something is seriously "wrong" about this.

Sorry typo

[edit on 16-8-2009 by thoughtsfull]

Originally posted by Gordi The Drummer
reply to post by thoughtsfull

 

Yep, Once again, smoke and mirrors, contradiction, mis-direction!
This has to be a bigee!! Just based on the level of dis-information being spread. Whatever they're covering up - it's huge!
I can't believe that more of us aren't questioning this???
There are over 10,000 intelligent, enquiring minds here on ATS alone, yet there only seems to be a handful, who are willing or able to seriously question the "official" line on this. Despite the many obvious instances of lies and deception taking place???
Come on ATS, Deny Ignorance, Seek The Truth.
This is huge, it's going down RIGHT NOW, in front of YOUR eyes, What are YOU doing about it??

Calm Down.

Now.

Possibilities:

1. Nuclear weapons sold on black market by Russians. Discovered by Finnish Port inspection. Russia tries to cover itself with military effort to recover ship.

2. Nuclear weapons are shipped legally but secertly on ship. Rouge element has knowledge of shipment and hijacks ship. All parties invloved are attempting to recover lost weapons and news blackout is to keep information from those trying to steal weapons both on and off the ship as counter-terrorist operation is in full swing.

3. This is a false-flag operation to mobilize Russian military fleet and get them in position to blockade entry into Black Sea/Georgia ports for Russian invasion of that country.

4. And the WORST SCENERIO: Combination of options 1&2 except Arctic Seas has been recovered days ago without nuclear weapons onboard. Massive operation to determine where the nuclear weapons have been transferred while maintaining a media blackout/misinformation campaign to hide the fact nuclear weapons are loose.


Interestingly Obama is in Denver Colorado.

Hillary was in Cape Verde.

Everyone is off the East seaboard and inland or out of country.

Intresting hearing where the politicians are!

I haven't read all of the thread just the first couple of posts. My Question is, what makes some of you think Nukes are involved?

Am i right in thinking if there was an earthquake or nuke explosion near where the boat is or was, some sort of tidal wave mite happen????

Tsom87

Originally posted by TSOM87
Intresting hearing where the politicians are!

I haven't read all of the thread just the first couple of posts. My Question is, what makes some of you think Nukes are involved?

Am i right in thinking if there was an earthquake or nuke explosion near where the boat is or was, some sort of tidal wave mite happen????

Tsom87

Then I'll add a little more:

Hillary was in Cape Verde THE DAY that the Artic Seas was reported in the world news agancies as being found in Cape Verde.

Coincidence? I doubt it.

Originally posted by TSOM87
Intresting hearing where the politicians are!

I haven't read all of the thread just the first couple of posts. My Question is, what makes some of you think Nukes are involved?

Am i right in thinking if there was an earthquake or nuke explosion near where the boat is or was, some sort of tidal wave mite happen????

Tsom87

Well the ship is 18 years old (life span about 25 years) worth about £3 million
the cargo timber worth about £900k
the crew - priceless

In the area of the hijack where tankers, cargo ships with millions in goods on board, ferrys and passenger ships..

So why pick on this one? you could hijack a similar vessel off Africa if you wanted a ghost ship and not have to face the special forces of a dozen countries.

Also the amount of ransom requested being put around the £1m mark.. sorry but if it was £50m then I'd say that is about the value I would expect to see before negotiations to make such a dangerous op worth while.

The ship in question was serviced in Kalingrad just before this trip.. so could have picked up a "special" cargo there..

What could that cargo be? well given that drugs would be more profitable spread around Europe that counts that out in my mind as I would have assumed you go for the closer and lucrative market and not go 10's of thousands of miles away at additional cost.

AK47's etc for some African state.. these are bulky items, and would be hard to conceal in enough numbers to make the risk of those dozen countries special forces worthwhile.. besides how much spare room would there be with the timber. and what was the value of the cargo on that Ukrainian ship that had tanks and all on board $30m? which was a much bigger ship.

So something smaller and more valuable would be needed, hence the nuclear, chemical, biological and technical weapons assumptions.

But they are only theories... why would the ship be attacked twice, why didn't anyone flag this once the first attack had been reported.. why were there firemen at the berth of the ship with geiger counters.. and why is the Russians making such an effort alone.. the ship is owned by a Finish company, so is the timber.. the other western nations have a stake in this as this was in their "highly policed" waters. Bit embarrassing for them really considering it is there back garden.. so why the stand off approach by NATO.

As for the Tsunami question, some guy called le (something or other) made a prediction based on Nostradamus prophecies that a "polish looking" crewed ship the size of the Arctic Sea would be Hijacked by some ME types and sailed to the mid Atlantic ridge where it would drop a large nuke to the seabed and detonate it to create a huge wave.. however looking at the under water nuclear tests I've seen the waves created at 10 miles were no more that 4ft above normal wave height.. So that's not really much of a risk of that happening unless they have a couple of Tsar bombs which might make a big enough splash to create a largeish wave.

So back to our other theories..

Dear me, I shouldn't rise to this stuff... but against stiff competition this promises to be one of the dumbest posts I've ever read on ATS. Unbelievable.

And just to be clear, I'm no Obamafan. Yes, unlike Bush, he can speak coherent English, but otherwise it's just more of the same.

Originally posted by epete22
Interesting however Obama does not support Isreal, nor would he support them in a war.

Did I miss something? Has Obama cut off all US subsidies to Israel? Don't think so...

Obama to increase US aid to Israel

Can't find anything recent that suggests anything different. There may be pressure on him to cut aid to Israel, but he seems comfortable enough in the Israel lobby's pocket for now.

Of course, he might not support Israel if they wanted to start a war, but I'd say that was a Good Thing. It's an evil regime.

I guess he could be misleading his enemies but I doubt it. This guy is a marxist communist

Who somehow managed to spend years in the legislature before become POTUS without it ever being an issue.

You don't get to be POTUS without supporting the status quo.

and has been promised to become the first Pharaoh of the United States after the American Holocaust takes place.

Promised? Who promised this, the Tooth Fairy? Beelzebub? Santa Claus?

Where did you get this bizarre assertion from? Or did The Voices tell you?

Also a nuke bomb at an iranian port would have little affect

Yup. Just a bunch of brown folks. Who cares?

And it's "effect", btw. "Affect", as a noun, is a psychological term to do with emotional responses.

unless a deadly wave of radiation spread out over the region which would set off a volley of nuclear weapons at the world in retaliation.

Yup. That would be a sensible response to a nuclear bomb: more radiation. Mind you, I'm not sure I'd put it past the Israelis to do something that destructive and stupid.

But a nuke bomb in an American port would have devastating consequences

Americans might be killed! Oh no!

and pretty much shut our country down allowing Obama to become the dictator he has been promised.

Who has promised this? How do you know?

(Only the UK readers will get this, but I don't care... " 'Dear Jim, (rattle rattle, jewelry jewelry), can you fix it for me to be the first American Pharoah after a massive disaster gets rid of most of the population? Yours hopefully, Barack.' Well then young man, I shall see what I can do. And now a record from Showaddywaddy..."

Finland denies missing ship carries nuclear material

www.google.com

PRAIA — Finnish authorities dismissed talk Sunday that the Arctic Sea was bearing a cargo of nuclear material, as Russia and NATO joined forces in an international hunt for the missing vessel.

Jukka Laaksonen, head of the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, said firefighters conducted radiation tests on the ship -- last reported off Cape Verde -- at a port in Finland before it began a voyage full of intrigue.

But he dismissed as "stupid rumours" reports in British and Finnish newspapers that the ship could be carrying a "secret" nuclear cargo that could explain why it was attacked on the Baltic Sea before vanishing.

"Some fireman for some reason thought that there might be some radioactivity involved in this shipment and that was a very stupid idea. There was no basis for that," Laaksonen told AFP.

Finnish police said Saturday that the ship's Helsinki-based operator, Solchart Management, had received a ransom demand for the Arctic Sea, raising fresh hopes for its 15-strong Russian crew.

The Financial Times Deutschland newspaper, without citing a source, reported on its website that the demand was for 1.5 million dollars (1.05 million euros).

"This is the first positive sign that there are intentions to bring back the crew," Russian maritime expert Mikhail Voitenko told AFP.

Yulia Latynina, an anti-Kremlin political commentator and a radio host in Moscow, took a similar view.

"It appears they are looking for a way out of the situation and it appears to mean that the crew will return safe and sound, thank God -- and that's the most important."

Russian warships, backed by NATO, are scouring the Atlantic for the ship, which left Finland on July 23 on its way to Algeria with a cargo of sawn timber estimated to be worth 1.16 million euros.

The Maltese-flagged vessel was last seen off the coast of Cape Verde, officials in the west African archipelago and in France revealed Friday.

Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Monteiro, Cape Verde coastguard captain, confirmed Sunday that on Wednesday or Thursday the vessel was reported off the islands.

He said the ship had reportedly been "following a direction of 188 degrees" in international waters.

But since that sighting about 400 nautical miles (740 kilometres) off the island chain, the ship had slipped off the radar, he went on.

The lieutenant stressed it was not the Cape Verde coastguard who spotted the vessel, however, and it was only reported to the force.

As such, he could not be 100 percent certain of the sighting.

"We have not had any direct contact with the ship," he said.

Russia has not confirmed the sighting.

In the Maltese capital Valletta, the Malta Maritime Authority told AFP on Sunday that the island nation was teaming up with Sweden and Finland to launch a criminal investigation into the disappearance.

Russia's envoy to NATO said Saturday that the transatlantic alliance was working closely with Moscow in the hunt.

"All information that is full and most likely objective, is instantly sent to Russian navy headquarters" from NATO headquarters in Brussels, Dmitry Rogozin told the RIA Novosti news agency.

Experts are debating whether pirates, a mafia quarrel or a commercial dispute are behind the disappearance.

On the night the Arctic Sea left port in Finland last month, masked men boarded the ship between the Swedish islands of Oland and Gotland in the Baltic Sea, Swedish police reported several days after the incident.

Claiming to be anti-drugs police, they tied up the crew and conducted a thorough search of the vessel before reportedly leaving several hours later. The last definite trace of the ship was in the early hours of July 30, when its tracking system put if off the coast of northwestern France.

On Friday, European Commission spokesman Martin Selmayr said the ship appeared to have been attacked a second time, this time off the coast of Portugal.

(visit the link for the full news article)


[edit on 16-8-2009 by john124]

With that out of the way, I have to say that this story is more interesting than I'd first thought.

I really would think that you'd be able to hunt one of these ships via satellite, unless it's been sunk. Then you'd have the timber... maybe. If it were securely in a cargo hold, or containers, otoh, maybe it wouldn't be so quick to rise to the surface.

Just thought I'd drop in the idea that perhaps those people who failed to pull off the theft of the Minot nukes (or did they??? Isn't one of the nukes still missing?) have managed to steal Russian nukes for their nefarious purposes instead.

this line of thinking heads straight into False Flag Land, which seems a little unpopular to some of the posters in this thread.

reply to post by rich23


Your right Jim, you shouldn't rise to it... a smirk before bedtime, thanks.

Originally posted by rich23
With that out of the way, I have to say that this story is more interesting than I'd first thought.

I really would think that you'd be able to hunt one of these ships via satellite, unless it's been sunk. Then you'd have the timber... maybe. If it were securely in a cargo hold, or containers, otoh, maybe it wouldn't be so quick to rise to the surface.

Just thought I'd drop in the idea that perhaps those people who failed to pull off the theft of the Minot nukes (or did they??? Isn't one of the nukes still missing?) have managed to steal Russian nukes for their nefarious purposes instead.

this line of thinking heads straight into False Flag Land, which seems a little unpopular to some of the posters in this thread.

Not sure about false flags, as that's a new word for my vocab.. just intriguing twists and turns..

Living on the south coast, I've seen a few of those go down that ended up with a lot of wood on our beaches or in the case of my partners sister containers full of BMW's.. I missed that one :-(

I even remember one ship finding our pier such an attraction that all 6,000 tones sailed right through it in the 80's..

But it's pretty hard to sink a ship and not leave some mess.. oil is the nasty give away..

Currently where I am they are trying to plan sinking a frigate in the bay by here, to give the divers something to look at... Well not that the channel hasn't already got a thousand wrecks already.. anyway all the flaff they have to go through to ensure none of the years of oil end up on the beach is beyond a joke.. but that's the point, try to sink a ship and you'll end up with lots of some things left over that make it way like a happy child all the way down to the beach.

My guess is that they would need to go somewhere mid Atlantic to drop this one to the sea floor if they want to get away with it. even then there is no guarantee something won't end up on these pesky beeches some where.

[edit on 16-8-2009 by thoughtsfull]

[edit on 16-8-2009 by thoughtsfull]

How does this sound?

The Russians, either the government or the mafia, attempt smuggling nukes on the Arctic Sea ship to Middle East.

After the ship has already left Finland port, the fins find leftover trace of radioactivity.

The Fins quietly alert authorities without telling Russia.

The authorities send a special force team to board the ship. Sure enough, they find nukes.

Now you have a big political mess. The Russians want their nukes back, but Russian government doesn’t want to admit they were smuggling or that they lost control of nukes.

Authorities don’t want to give nukes back to Russia because they don’t know if the smugglers were mafia or official Russian government. Authorities want explanation and details, but Russia can’t or won’t tell.

Political stalemate has to be worked out.

Perhaps added complication if Smugglers claim nukes are wired for remote detonation or booby trap. So now they demand ransom even after their smuggling attempt has been stopped. No one wants to admit where ship is for fear of panic if smugglers state their demands publicly.

The whole situation seems to have international implications. The whereabouts of the ship is probably known, but no one wants to tell. There is an aspect of dilemma or stalemate over what to do.

So I would guess either:

1) Political negotiations or stalemate
2) Stalemate or negotiations with terrorists with possible blackmail threat to explode ship
3) The cargo is actually missing and all involved are in a panic (doesn’t seem likely to me)

Cimmerius