Hijackers made threat to blow up Russian ship

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The vessel's eight alleged hijackers, who have been arrested, and its 15-man crew were questioned aboard a Russian naval ship off West Africa.

The suspects are thought to have hijacked the Arctic Sea off the Swedish coast and sailed it to the Atlantic via the Channel, but limited information from Russia has failed to quell doubts about whether the piracy actually took place or was a cover story to conceal a secret cargo of arms or nuclear material.

A Russian defence ministry spokesman said: "The crew have confirmed that the captors demanded a ransom and threatened to blow up the vessel if their orders were not obeyed."

The Arctic Sea was said to have gone missing on 30 July as it rounded north-west France but maritime authorities from Malta, where the ship is registered, said it "never disappeared".

The 4,000-tonne ship, carrying timber reportedly worth £1.1 million, sailed from Finland and should have docked in Bejaia, Algeria, on 4 August. Speculation about what happened has included piracy, a Russian mafia dispute, a commercial row, smuggling or trafficking.

Russian defence minister Anatoly Serdyukov claimed the hijackers attacked on 24 July and forced the crew to turn off tracking equipment and sail south.

But the Malta Maritime Authority said the ship was "continuously tracked" from the time of the reported attack.