The crew of the Polish ship ‘Jawor’ detained in Brazil is being questioned

The 20-member crew of the bulk carrier Jawor, on which half a tonne of cocaine was revealed before entering the port of Sao Luis, is being questioned by Brazilian services. Four people, including the captain, were summoned on Monday, and more sailors were summoned today, a spokesperson for the PJM relayed.

‘The crew was divided into two equal groups. Yesterday, four people were questioned, including the captain. Today, the remaining people from the first group. No one has been charged so far,’ Krzysztof Gogol, spokesman for the Polska Żegluga Morska Group, told PAP on Tuesday afternoon.

A bulk carrier from the Polish Maritime Shipping fleet arrived in the Brazilian port of Itaqui in Sao Luis last week for a cargo of grain. The ship was waiting at anchorage. On Friday, one of the seafarers noticed a broken seal on the entrance to one of the empty spaces (known as void space) between the superstructure and the holds. Inside were foiled packages. The master was notified, who – through an agent – alerted the police. Officers determined that the suspicious packages contained cocaine. A total of half a tonne. An investigation was launched. The ship is not allowed to depart or enter port. The seafarers are being questioned.

The crew of the m/s Jawor consists of 20 people – Poles, Ukrainians, Bulgarians and Romanians. ‘Half of the crew are Poles. The interrogations take place with the participation of a sworn interpreter. It takes quite a long time. On Monday it ended at midnight our time,’ Gogol told PAP.

He explained that the crew members are going to a hotel after the hearings. The PFS has provided them with a place of rest, legal assistance, psychological support.

‘They have mobile phones, there is contact with them, they can call their families. They also have the number of our company psychologist,’ – Gogol explained. The stress level is maximum, he added.

He pointed out that the ship’s captain, an officer from Szczecin, was interviewed on Monday.

‘Very experienced, in the captain’s position for more than 20 years,’ he – he stated.

More seafarers from the first group, six people, are due to be questioned on Tuesday. Due to the time difference, news on the progress of the interrogations can only be expected late in the evening or at night. The seafarers are being transported to the police headquarters by helicopter.

‘There is a lot of swell there, so to ensure the safety of those being transported we have hired a small helicopter,’ the spokesman informed.

He also stressed that the vessel of the PJM was not arrested, but ‘detained at the disposal of the services’. ‘The ship is still standing in the roadstead waiting to enter under loading,’ Gogol explained.

It is due to set sail from Brazil to Spain with a shipment of soya beans. It was scheduled to be in Cartagena on 21 October.

The vessel’s detention in Sao Luis and the ‘thwarting of drug smuggling’ was announced by a spokesman for the PJM on Sunday (6 October). He stressed that it was the crew who uncovered the contraband and notified the police. He explained that the drug parcels were probably dropped off during the night. The bulk carrier Jawor is 230m long. It is not under enhanced surveillance at anchorage. Gogol pointed out that South American drug cartels often try to use merchant ships to transport cocaine to Europe. They use various caches. They have boats, divers, etc.

The spokesperson reminded that the course of the ship’s watch is being recorded and the recordings from the m/s Jawor can be handed over to the Brazilian services.

The situation of the crew of the ship detained in Brazil is being monitored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. MFA spokesman Pawel Wronski told PAP on Monday that the ministry had received the first report from the Polish diplomatic post in Brazil.

The case of the drugs disclosure on the Polish merchant ship was publicised in the Brazilian media. According to the g1 (Globo) portal, the initiative to search the ship on Saturday morning came from police officers. The portal reports that the seafarers could face charges of drug smuggling and belonging to an organised crime group. Brazilian police conveyed that the cargo seized on the ship is the largest seized shipment of cocaine in the history of the state of Maranhao.

Source: PortalMorski.pl