POLAR NANOQ

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Latest news

Trawler heading home with partially new crew

In the afternoon of Jan 24 the "Polar Nanoq" was released after the police finished the investigations. The vessel was heading home towards Greenland and was some 100 nautical miles west of Hafnarfjördur the next morning, ETA Jan 26. Polar Seafood will continue to offer the Icelandic authorities any assistance in connection with police investigations. The crew has been partially replaced. A few of them have chosen to travel home instead of going aboard the ship. Two members from the crew remained arrested and were charged in the murder case. The dead woman's ID card was found in a garbage can on the trawler. Police also found traces of blood in a red Kia Rio, which was hired by the two detainees. They have so far both refused to plead guilty. A third has been arrested in connection with the discovery of a larger quantity of marijuana on the vessel, but released after questioning.

Woman found dead on beach near Reykjavik - crew members accused of murder - drugs found on trawler

Traces of blood were found in the car that two crew members from the "Polar Nanoq" rented in Reykjavik in the case of the missing 20-year-old Icelandic woman. It was being examined whether the blood traces found in the rented red Kia Rio were of the same type as Birna Bjránsdóttir had. The samples were sent abroad for examination and the result showed they were identical. On Jan 21. the most extensive search in the history of Iceland ever was completed. 570 rescuers, dogs, helicopters and volunteers had searched a very large area outside Reykjavik. The search ended without result. The two now murder defendants have been questioned again. They were both placed in isolation. The 20-year-old Birna Bjránsdóttir has been missing since Jan 14. Her mobile phone was disconnected shortly before she disappeared, the last track was from a mast close to the pier where the Greenlandic trawler was berthed. One of Birnas Bjránsdóttirs shoes was found in the same area. The suspected crew members were arrested on Jan 19 by an Icelandic special forces which was flown out to the trawler in a helicopter. When the trawler was searched, they found 20 kg hash. The trawler owners were warned that they risk losing their fishing licenses if they do not put an end to trawlers being used to smuggle marijuana into Greenland. The drugs had an estimated value of 14 million Danish Crowns. On Jan 22 the police found the body of a woman they believed was Birna Brjansdottir. It was likely that the woman has been murdered. A helicopter from the Coast Guard located the body about 1 p.m. on a beach near Selvogsviti. south of Reykjavik. Police was examining the cause of death, but they were reasonably certain that she has been killed. They believed Birna was murdered in the Kia Rio.

Two crew members arrested on murder suspicion

Two crew members from the "Polar Nanoq" were arrested on Jan 19, 2017, Icelandic special forces who were flown out to the trawler in a helicopter. They have now been charged with killing a 20-year-old Icelandic woman. Birna Bjránsdóttir who has been missing for more than seven days, has not yet been found, but the police believed that the evidence against the two arrested was so strong that it justified the charge. The two arrested pleaded not guilty. Her mobile phone rang shortly before she disappeared, from a mast close to the pier where the trawler was. The phone was manually disconnected shortly after. One of Birnas Bjránsdóttirs shoes were also found in the same area. The police has not released much about the interrogations of the suspects, but the investigation leader said that the crew membershave indicated that they met Birna Bjránsdóttir. The plan was that the "Polar Nanoq" must leave Reykjavik in they morning of Jan 23. Whether this happens was so far unknown.