Venezuela

Drugs alert

Drug trafficking can present very serious hazards to ships calling at a number of South American ports, resulting in a need for onboard procedures and careful vigilance aimed at detecting any such activities. And the Club has seen a recent case - in Venezuela - which provides an illustration of the scale and nature of the difficulties that even the most careful masters and owners can face.

The loading of a bulk carrier had just been completed when the master noted and alerted the authorities to the presence of suspicious divers very close by. The authorities investigated and discovered a capsule attached to the underside of the ship’s hull, containing 70kg of cocaine. But although the drugs had been found as a result of the master‘s attentiveness, the ship and crew were detained while the authorities investigated and considered criminal charges against the master and owners.

Although all the evidence pointed towards the master’s innocence, these investigations were nevertheless extremely protracted - largely, it seems, as a result of political pressure on the local authorities to obtain a conviction. And it was only after 36 days, and intense endeavours through diplomatic, industry and legal channels, that the threat of proceedings (and the potential imprisonment of the master) was withdrawn and the ship freed to depart