Finnish police and customs authorities in the port of Kotka have discovered a large cargo of weapons and explosives on board a Danish-owned vessel arriving from Germany and bound for South kroea and China.

According to reports from Kotka, which is close to the Russian border, officers found 69 Patriot missiles and 160 tonnes of explosives on the Isle of Man-registered, Thor Liberty which is owned by Thorco Shipping, headquartered in Svendborg, Denmark.

The Swedish news agency TT reports Thorco’s CEO Thomas Mikkelsen as saying that he was surprised at the discovery, and with another Thorco employee suggesting the cargo may have been loaded by mistake.

The Thor Liberty arrived in Finland from Germany and was on its way to Shanghai in China via South Korea when searched on December 15.

The Patriot missiles, which were marked as fireworks, are surface-to-air tactical defence and anti-ballistic missiles produced by the US Raytheon company and predominantly used by the US Army and other NATO allied nations. The missiles have also been sold to other non-NATO nations, including South Korea, which has purchased second-hand patriots from Germany.

South Korea purchased patriot systems following test launches of seven North Korean ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan in July 2006.

"This incident is exceptional because of the amount of the materials and the type. Personally I cannot remember a case of this magnitude in recent years," Head of Finnish customs anti-crime unit Petri Lounatmaa tells the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation YLE.

"When this huge amount of explosives are being transported and safety measures are not observed, it does indeed arouse suspicious and concerns," Lounatmaa adds.

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