Minister of Defense of Ukraine Yuriy Ekhanurov confirmed that Faina ship captured by pirates was carrying 33 T-72 tanks and other ammunition sold by Ukraine, UNIAN news agency reported minister as saying.
All these ammunition was sold by the state-owned Ukrspetsexport under international agreements, he said.
Besides tanks, grenade launcher, tank ammunition and others were on the board of the ship.
The coordinates of the ship are available now. The captain of the ship informed Marine Consultations Center in Greece about the intentions of the pirates. Later information was received by central Marine Coordination Center in Odessa and International Marine Bureau.
Faina left Oktyabrsk port in Nikolaev for Mombasu port in Kenya. The ship reached Suez channel on 15 September.
On 25 September, pirates capture the ship under Faina name (Ukrainian company, manager of ship Tomax Team Inc) under Belize flag near Somali shore. The staff of the ship includes 17 citizens of Ukraine, 3 from Russian Federation and 1 from Latvia.