Pirates! In the Baltic Sea?

This is something you wouldn't expect to read about.

Swedish police are investigating the suspected hijacking of a Finnish ship in Swedish territorial waters, in which the crew was tied up and assaulted while the pirates searched the cargo vessel.

The Arctic Sea was en route to Algeria from Finland with timber when it was boarded between the Swedish islands of Oeland and Gotland in the Baltic Sea on July 24 by the group who identified themselves as police officers, Swedish police said in a statement today. The ship is owned by Oy Solchart Management AB, sails under Maltese flag, and has a crew of 15 Russians.

Sweden has provided warships and soldiers to the European Union’s anti-piracy operation, Atalanta, in the Gulf of Aden. Pirates have attacked vessels off the coast of Somalia 130 times so far this year, with 28 ships seized, the U.S. Navy has said.

Incidents like the detention in the Baltic Sea have never happened “in my life,” Victor Matveev, chief executive officer of Solchart, said in a telephone interview from Helsinki today.

MV Arctic Sea is a 4706 DWT General Cargo Vessel. It isn't often we hear about a ship being attacked by pirates in waters NORTH of contential Europe.