Patriot Missiles on Cargo Ship Stopped in Finland

[Pooky 3,785]

21 December 2011 Last updated at 16:47 ET

Finland 'finds Patriot missiles' on China-bound ship

The Thor Liberty is docked in Kotka

The Finnish authorities have impounded an Isle of Man-flagged ship bound for China with undeclared missiles and explosives, officials say.

Police are questioning the crew of the MS Thor Liberty after what were described as 69 Patriot anti-missile missiles were found aboard.

Interior Minister Paivi Rasanen said the missiles were marked "fireworks".

The MS Thor Liberty had docked in the Finnish port of Kotka after leaving Germany last week.

Dock workers became suspicious after finding explosives poorly stored on open pallets, and the missiles were then found in containers marked "fireworks".

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.

Police did not confirm Finnish media reports that the ship had also been scheduled to stop in South Korea, Reuters news agency reports.

'Quite unusual'

The MS Thor Liberty left port in Emden, northern Germany, on 13 December and docked two days later in Kotka, southern Finland, to pick up a cargo of anchor chains, said Finnish Customs spokesman Petri Lounatmaa.

Patriot missile systems are supplied to US allies

It was bound for the Chinese port of Shanghai but there was no indication for whom the military cargo was destined.

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.

"Actually in our investigation at the moment, we have got the information that we found 69 Patriot missiles on the ship and around 160 tonnes of explosives," said Detective Superintendent Timo Virtanen from the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation.

Interior Minister Rasanen said she had not heard of a similar case.

"Of course, there are legal transports of weapons or defence material [through Finland] but in this case the cargo was marked as containing fireworks," she told Finnish media. "That is quite unusual."

Mr Lounatmaa said customs officials and police had launched a joint investigation into a possible breach of Finnish export and weapons trading laws.

He said that the crew of about 32 were being questioned.

Patriot missiles, designed by the US company Raytheon, are supplied to "US and allied forces", according to the company's website. South Korea is among states which deploy them.

BBC link

Now, I might be wrong here, but Patriot missiles are a little more than "fireworks".

And for 69 of them to be loaded on a ship, bound for China, "by mistake" is stretching credibility, even at this time of the year. Something about this whole affair smells really off.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

What's wrong with this picture? Clearly, the fact that the socialist government of socialist Finland made the find. Obviously, socialist governments are incapable of properly functioning. We all know that for a fact. Therefore, I have to call BS on this story.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Who, how and where do you get 60 Patriot missiles? I mean it's not like you run to Home Depot and say I'l take a few dozen of those along with some of your latest anti tank weapons. I wonder how long it takes them to trace this back to whoever is responsible? I wouldn't think you could get these on the private market.

btw when China isn't stealing our technology it's stealing from Russia. They rarely innovate anything themselves, they just steal and copy.

Edited December 22, 2011 by Why_Me

[Pooky 3,785]

What's wrong with this picture? Clearly, the fact that the socialist government of socialist Finland made the find. Obviously, socialist governments are incapable of properly functioning. We all know that for a fact. Therefore, I have to call BS on this story.

You can keep your snarcasm for someone who thinks you're funny.

Report is on the BBC, CBS, CNN and a bunch of other sites, so I really doubt it's a hoax. The good news is that someone found these fireworks before they reached China and compromised the only operational US anti-missile system. How 69 of them found their way onto this cargo ship in boxes labelled as fireworks will be an interesting story to follow as it unfolds.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

You can keep your snarcasm for someone who thinks you're funny.

So your sarcasm detector seems to working on and off...

[Pooky 3,785]

So your sarcasm detector seems to working on and off...

Works better than Raytheon's shipping tracker, thankyouverymuch

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Works better than Raytheon's shipping tracker, thankyouverymuch

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-hack-us-chamber-commerce-au

Chinese Hack Into US Chamber of Commerce, Authorities Say

By PIERRE THOMAS and OLIVIA KATRANDJIAN | ABC News – 10 hrs ago

For more than a year, hackers with ties to the Chinese military have been eavesdropping on U.S. Chamber of Commerce officials involved in Asia affairs, authorities say.

The hackers had access to everything in Chamber computers, including, potentially, the entire U.S. trade policy playbook.

"The Chinese have attacked every major U.S. company, every government agency, and NGO's. Their attacking the Chamber of Commerce is part of a pattern of their attacking everything in the US. If you're working on U.S.-China relations with an NGO, government agency, you can be sure the Chinese are reading your emails and on your computer," Richard Clarke, former White House counter-terrorism adviser, told ABC News.

At one point, the penetration into the Chamber of Commerce was so complete that a Chamber thermostat was communicating with a computer in China. Another time, chamber employees were surprised to see one of their printers printing in Chinese.

"I don't think the Chamber of Commerce has anything worth stealing, but it's part of a pattern of the Chinese stealing of everything they can, and that's worrying," Clarke said.

Sources tell ABC News that at any given moment that there are hundreds of cyber attacks targeting U.S. companies and government agencies.

In late 2009, sources say China-based hackers broke into Google's computers and looked at the email accounts of human rights activists. In the same operation, 29 other companies were hit, including Dow Chemical, Yahoo and Morgan Stanley.

The same year, a Chinese spy at Ford Motor Company downloaded thousands of files on hybrid engine design and gave them to the Chinese government, and a cyber attack traced to China allegedly stole design secrets to a U.S. stealth fighter jet.

Congressional leaders say China is engaged in economic espionage on a scale never seen before.

"You stack all of that up and I think there's a case to be made that this may be the greatest transfer of wealth through theft and piracy in the history of the world and we are on the losing end of it," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

Overall, the U.S. is hemorrhaging economic espionage to the tune of $250 billion.

"This is a national, long-term strategic threat to the United States of America. This is an issue where a failure is not an option," said Robert Bryant at the National Counterintelligence Executive.

The Chinese, of course, have denied it all.

[slim 1,525]

What's wrong with this picture? Clearly, the fact that the socialist government of socialist Finland made the find. Obviously, socialist governments are incapable of properly functioning. We all know that for a fact. Therefore, I have to call BS on this story.

Dockworkers found them.

See. Even in Finland they don't need government officials to do things civilians can do themselves.

Who, how and where do you get 60 Patriot missiles? I mean it's not like you run to Home Depot and say I'l take a few dozen of those along with some of yor latest anti tank weapons. I wonder how long it takes them to trace this back to whoever is responsible? I wouldn't think you could get these on the private market.

Ze Germans.

before they reached China and compromised the only operational US anti-missile system.

You're assuming China doesn't already have a few of them.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Dockworkers found them.

They're Finnish Dockworkers - i.e. socialists.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

On yahoo news today it said the Fins arrested the captain, first mate and the rest of the crew...everyone of them including the captain was Ukrainian.