On August 14, 2009, a coastguard source told AFP news agency that the missing ship had been spotted some 400 nautical miles from the Cape Verde islands, off West Africa, but was not confirmed by Russian authorities. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8202308.stm

On August 18, 2009 the Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov released a statement saying that eight suspected hijackers were in custody, and that the whereabouts of the Artic Sea had been known all along. The statement also said that authorities in Finland, Malta and Sweden had agreed "not to disclose any sensitive information in order not to jeopardize the life and safety of the persons on board and the integrity of the ship."http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/missing_ship

The suspected hijackers are citizens of Estonia, Latvia and Russia. The 15 crew members of the Artic Sea were safe and are being questioned by the Navy. The motive for the ship's hijacking is still unknown.http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/missing_ship

Moscow's top investigator, Alexander Bastrykin, admitted in a newspaper interview that the ship may have been carrying something other than timber. Bastrykin stated, "We do not rule out the possibility that the Arctic Sea transported something other than wood." It has been highly speculated that the ship may have been carrying weapons or even nuclear materials.http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090826/wl_afp/transportshippingcrimerussia_20090826090923