Breaking News: Iran has captured some Finnish fishermen.

Dartzap · Post by **Dartzap** » 2007-06-06 06:27am

Beeb

Iran holds three Finnish anglers
Three Finns have been detained by Iran while fishing in the Gulf, Finnish diplomats have said.

The three were arrested off the island of Abu Musa on Saturday, they said.

Finnish officials said they were in contact with the Iranian authorities and were trying to secure the release of the three men.

In March this year, Iran detained 15 British sailors and marines after seizing their ship in what Tehran said were Iran's waters in the Persian Gulf.

They were released after almost two weeks in captivity.

The three Finns seem to have drifted into Iranian-controlled waters as they were on a fishing trip from the United Arab Emirates.

"There are three Finnish citizens who were fishing and strayed into an off-limits area near Abu Musa island. This is a sensitive area and it happens," Esa Hurtig at the Finnish Embassy in Abu Dhabi told Reuters news agency.

One can only hope this is sorted out quicker than the fiasco a few months. ago.

El Moose Monstero · Post by **El Moose Monstero** » 2007-06-06 06:57am

I only hope they have enough party bags to go around...

I imagine it'll be resolved quickly, the Finnish embassy is admitting to being in the wrong which I'm sure will make resolutions a lot quicker than with the UK sailors. Hopefully there won't be any torture/interrogation techniques this time as Iran doesn't need to force a 'confession of being in territorial waters'.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2007-06-06 07:11am

They'll probably let them go after the finns get their captors drunk on lapin kulta and have a brawl involving puuko knives for being a bad influence.

Mange · Post by **Mange** » 2007-06-06 07:17am

His Divine Shadow wrote:They'll probably let them go after the finns get their captors drunk on lapin kulta and have a brawl involving puuko knives for being a bad influence.

Lapin Kulta? Then it's beheading at the first dawn.

Thunderfire · Post by **Thunderfire** » 2007-06-06 08:50am

There was a similar incident with a german fisherman over a year ago. He was sentenced to eighteen months in prison for illegal border crossing.

GSV Use Psychology · Post by **GSV Use Psychology** » 2007-06-06 02:35pm

And everything seems to have been settled.

Eris · Post by **Eris** » 2007-06-06 03:10pm

Did anyone else see the title and get a mental image of a bunch of sneaky Persians creeping up on a bunch of old Finns fishing from a pier? Damn those Iranian Lapland ninja abduction squads.

Seriously though, glad to hear this resolved itself more cleanly than the other recent tanglings the West has had with Iran.

Post by **Edi** » 2007-06-06 03:13pm

GSV Use Psychology wrote:And everything seems to have been settled.

Confirmed by the evening news. They've been released and have returned to Dubai. Apparently the foreign ministry jumped on the issue right away, kept it under wraps for a fairly long time (our prime minister only learned of it yesterday when the detainment happened on Saturday) while they spoke pretty intensely to the Iranians. Essentially, they managed to present a done deal on all sides and everything is smooth.

At least some of the people who got in trouble earlier were in bigger shit due to having cameras and having taken inopportune snapshots of the wrong things (no matter how innocuous the actual content) so the spy aspect came into play. These guys were just fishing, so that hurdle was avoided. The swift resolution also allows the Iranians to get fairly good PR out of this.

Tiriol · Post by **Tiriol** » 2007-06-06 03:18pm

Interesting; I hadn't heard of this before now. Goes to show how little information about outside world is really available during military service.

I'm just glad that this got settled quickly and apparently nobody was hurt.

Rightous Fist Of Heaven · Post by **Rightous Fist Of Heaven** » 2007-06-07 07:02am

What do we learn here today, dont drink and navigate.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-06-07 10:20am

Rightous Fist Of Heaven wrote:What do we learn here today, dont drink and navigate.

Alternatively: "don't go on a fishing trip near Iran".

Rightous Fist Of Heaven · Post by **Rightous Fist Of Heaven** » 2007-06-07 12:52pm

Darth Wong wrote:
Rightous Fist Of Heaven wrote:What do we learn here today, dont drink and navigate.
Alternatively: "don't go on a fishing trip near Iran".

That as well, must have been some mighty good fishing grounds to warrant the risk I guess. However, I still suspect alcohol might've had some part in this incident, Finnish fishermen and all.