shirley macr accavivi ms ha.rema >> reporter: a 23-foot shipas h simplyas vashed.rrying a load of tbernd a 15 russian crew members. 1e mystery begins the next day. the crew told officials in sweden they were stopped and boarded by armed men dressed as narcotics police and then released. swedish authorities say none of their forces went nearhe heship. the last confirmed sighting was in the english channel, one of the busiest waterways in the world. increasingly, there are suspicions of piracy almost unheard of here, and the ship's operators have said they think it has been hijacked. >> it's not under command of its master, it's not been heard of, communications are stopped, so, therefore, all of the jigsaw puzzle leads towards the vessel being taken. >> reporter: the worried families of the crew members say they have heard nothing. the russian navy has now been ordered into the atlantic to search for the arctic sea with no record of a distress call, it's hard to know where to begin. maritime experts say the ship may now be off the coast of africa, sailing with a new