Sailors from the “Jawor” ship returned to Europe – informed the spokesman of the Polish Maritime Shipping Company. More than two months ago, the crew was detained in the Brazilian port of Sao Luis. – We have been organizing their return since Friday. We bought tickets to Warsaw, Berlin, Krakow, Sofia and Bucharest, the spokesman said.
The ship's crew stayed in Brazil after cocaine was found on board the ship.
– Our role as a shipowner ended when the crew members were released, their passports were returned and they were allowed to leave Brazil. We have been organizing their return since Friday, said Krzysztof Gogol, spokesman for the Polish Maritime Shipping Company, on Sunday. – Sailors are private persons. I cannot talk about their further fate, he emphasized.
Suspicious packages
At the beginning of October, a bulk carrier from the PŻM fleet “Jawor” arrived at the Brazilian port of Itaqui in Sao Luis to pick up a load of soybeans. The bulk carrier was detained on October 4 at the anchorage of the port of Sao Luis by Brazilian services. There were drugs in one of the ship's rooms. The PŻM spokesman informed that the suspicious packages were found by one of the sailors at night, who immediately notified the vessel's captain, who passed the information on to an agent working for the shipowner, and then to the local authorities. After checking the wrapped packages, it turned out that they contained almost half a ton of cocaine.
The twenty-person crew consisted of 10 Poles, Ukrainians, Bulgarians and Romanians. The ship's captain and sailors were interrogated for several weeks. They were not arrested. They stayed in a hotel but were not allowed to leave the city or Brazil. PŻM and Polish consular services provided them with legal assistance. Last week, the members of “Jawor” received court permission to leave. No one has faced criminal charges.
– The judge of the Federal Court of the Maranhao province, José Magno Linhares Moraes, issued a decision authorizing the return of all crew members of the Jawor ship their passports and, consequently, allowed them to leave Brazil – Gogol reported. He explained that the court had received a statement from the Brazilian Federal Police in which the officers confirmed that there was no need to maintain any preventive measures against them. The decisions of the court and the police were confirmed by the Provincial Prosecutor of Maranhao, José Raimundo Leite Filho.
– We bought plane tickets for all crew members. To Berlin, Krakow, Sofia, Bucharest, and the largest group was to fly to Warsaw – said the PŻM spokesman.
The bulk carrier “Jawor” was in Brazil to pick up a load of soybeans. After a thorough search of the ship, Brazilian authorities agreed to loading. In October, with a replaced crew, the unit sailed to the Netherlands.
The investigation to explain the circumstances and who hid the drugs on the ship is ongoing.
The PŻM spokesman explained that the packages were probably planted at night by a group specializing in such operations, operating for a drug cartel. Packages weighing several dozen kilograms were hidden in one of the empty rooms (so-called void space) between the superstructure and the holds. Gogol pointed out that merchant ships are increasingly used to smuggle drugs. South American cartels have special boats and divers at their disposal
Main photo source: PŻM