‘Arms ship headed for Syria’ tracked in Scottish waters

Published on 19/06/2012 13:48

A SHIP which is allegedly carrying weapons to Syria has been ordered to halt its course by the UK off the coast of Scotland.

The MV Alaed - which is thought to be carrying Russian-made attack helicopters and munitions - had its insurance withdrawn by marine insurers The Standard Club in London, which means it cannot continue until it secures new cover.

However, conflicting reports suggest that it has continued its course and is headed for international waters, outside UK jurisdiction.

The ship may have been intending to sail across the Atlantic to the Panama Canal and eventually Syria, or down the west coast of the Hebrides, off west Ireland towards the Mediterranean.

The MV Alaed is understood to be owned by a firm called Volcano Shipping and is flagged in Curaçao in the former Netherlands Antilles off Venezuela.

The 9000 tonne deadweight ship Russian operators FEMCO are based in Sakhalin island in the Russian Far East.

Shipping management and marine charterers United Nordic Shipping of Copenhagen, Denmark, has now cancelled its proposed management agreement. The firm said it was never officially finalised.

A Femco statement said: “By mutual consent, the contract between the ship owner and United Nordic Shipping A/S for the commercial management of the MV Alaed was cancelled today, on Monday June 18, without actually coming into force.”

The MV Alaed appears to have loaded her cargo at Kaliningrad and was tracked steaming through the Baltic. She headed south towards the English Channel. Off the Dutch coast she refused to stop for authorities and turned hard around to steam back up the North Sea.

Early on Monday she was 15 miles north east of Shetland, and today she was sailing past the Western Isles.