Finland says ship can sail again, without missiles (and 160 tons of explosives & its captain)

Yahoo ^ | 12/26/11 | AP

[NormsRevenge]

HELSINKI (AP) — A British-registered ship that was held in a Finnish port after authorities discovered 69 surface-to-air missiles and 160 tons of explosives onboard has permission to travel again, but without those materials or its captain, a port official said Monday.

The M/S Thor Liberty was headed to China and had docked in the southern Finnish port of Kotka to pick up anchor chains when police last week discovered and seized the missiles and explosive piric acid on board.

The Patriot missiles were an official shipment from Germany to South Korea, while Finnish authorities said the explosives were a legitimate shipment for China. But the missiles lacked proper transit documents, and the explosives weren't safely stored, police said.

[NormsRevenge]

piric acid, for fireworks, I reckun

[NormsRevenge]

piric is also called picric

a multipurpose substance

[gleeaikin]

I suspect more to the story than just improper documents and storage.

[no-to-illegals]

Thanks ... Thinking same ... suspect more to the story than just improper documents and storage

[no-to-illegals]

Strange and interesting article. Thanks.

[DemforBush]

I had similar thoughts also.

[DemforBush]

Yup. For the general FYI:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picric_Acid#Uses

Handy stuff, it seems.

[citizen]

So why isn’t smuggling Patriot missles and 160 tons of HE a bigger story, even at Christmas time? Oh, yes, it doesn’t at first glance smear Conservatives so there is no story here.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks NormsRevenge.

...authorities discovered 69 surface-to-air missiles and 160 tons of explosives onboard... The Patriot missiles were an official shipment from Germany to South Korea, while Finnish authorities said the explosives were a legitimate shipment for China.

[Rio]

CONFLICTING CARGO REPORT:
Routine checks by Finland’s traffic safety authority revealed a load of up to 160 tonnes of improperly packed nitroguanidine, a low-sensitivity explosive with a high detonation speed.

WEASELS:
The managing director of the ship’s owner, Thorco Shipping, expressed surprise. Thomas Mikkelsen told AFP news agency from Denmark that he was unaware of the matter.

Another company official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the ship had been detained in Finland and said the missiles could have been loaded on to the vessel by mistake, AFP adds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16292244

[piasa]

the missiles could have been loaded on to the vessel by mistake

Ja, after the guys who packed the missiles in shipping containers mistook them for M-80s and labeled them "Fireworks." Oops!