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Finnish ship hijacked in Sweden

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-31 05:47

STOCKHOLM: A Finnish ship was hijacked off the island in south-eastern Sweden in the early hours of last Friday, according to the local reports on Thursday.

A group of black-clad masked men who spoke English boarded the ship off the island Oland of Baltic Sea at around 3 am on July 24. They claimed to be police officers, searched the Maltese- registered vessel which was laden with timber bound for Algeria, reported the Swedish electronic newspaper The Local.

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The vessel's Russian crew were bound and gagged for the duration of their 12 hour ordeal, The Swedish National Police Board (Rikspolisstyrelsen) was quoted by The Local.

The hijackers are reported to have been traveling in a high- speed inflatable boat. After the attack the vessel continued on its journey, the report added.

"The men were not police, neither were they representatives from any other authority," said an police officer of Rikspolisstyrelsen, adding that the Swedish police had contacted the Russian embassy in Stockholm and launched an investigation into the hijacking amid allegations that the crew were assaulted with rifle butts.