On the night of May 23, 2024, during an operation ordered by the Maritime Prefect of the Atlantic, in conjunction with the Brest public prosecutor, and guided by customs from the operational center of the national directorate customs Coastguard in Nantes, the 'Kermorvan' seized 406 kg of cocaine on board the Polish sailboat 'Le Dahu' in the Bay of Biscay. The National Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigations (DNRED) had detected the yacht in the Caribbean and tracked its route into the the Bay of Biscay, in liaison with OFAST, MAOC and DEA. On the evening of May 23, with the agreement of the Polish authorities, and following the relocation of the ship by a Beechcraft Customs aircraft, the crew of the 'Kermorvan' carried out an inspection of the sailboat on the basis of Article 17 of the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. The two crew members, after setting fire to the ship in an attempt to sink it and its cargo, were taken in custody by the crew of the 'Kermorvan', and the cargo was seized. The narcotics were packed in 19 bales. The drug was handed over to OFAST under the authority of the Public Prosecutor at the Brest Judicial Court, who relinquished the case in favour of the public prosecutor's office of the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction (JIRS) of Rennes, now in charge of conducting the judicial investigation. Report with photo: https://www.premar-atlantique.gouv.fr/communiques-presse/saisie-de-stupefiants-sur-un-voilier-dans-le-golfe-de-gascogne
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SILVER WHISPER
A female Filipino crew member of the 'Silver Whisper' has been arrested by the Grosseto prosecutor's office on charges of murder after allegedly letting her newborn die on the cruise ship. The woman, who concealed her pregnancy from her colleagues, gave birth ~2 days before the incident. The alarm was raised by her colleagues on the evening of May 19, 2024, while the vessel was near Monte Argentario's coast (Grosseto Province). The police intervened and boarded theship. The newborn's body was discovered in the cabin shared by the mother and other crew members. Authorities conducted a thorough search of the cabin and other areas of the ship, collecting photographic evidence and initial testimonies. In a confused state, the woman was taken to the emergency room in Grosseto. On the morning of May 20, the prosecutor's office decided to arrest her. The baby's body was taken to the "Misericordia" morgue, and an autopsy may be scheduled. Preliminary examinations indicated that the baby's death was not due to suffocation. nstead, it appears the mother left the newborn unattended for hours in the cabin, without providing medical care or nourishment. The 'Silver Whisper's current cruise is a 9-day itinerary from Civitavecchia to Villefranche-sur-Mer/Nice. The voyage started on May 18 and ends on May 27.
RUNZENG03
After a month of pursuit, the 'Run Zeng 03' was arrested by surveillance officers Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. The ship was the target of an operation related to a transnational crime syndicate, namely fishing theft in Indonesian waters, fuel oil smuggling and human slavery. The government promised to pursue the perpetrators of this crime down to the beneficiaries of the criminal practice of syndicating foreign vessels with national vessels. The 'Run Zeng 03' was captured in the Arafura Sea using the monitoring ship 'Paus 01' belonging to the PSDKP-KKP on May 19, 2024. The ship used prohibited fishing gear, namely trawling, with a catch of 30 tons of mixed fish species. The ship was taken to the PSDKP base in Tual, Maluku. In the initial interrogation, the crew stated that they departed from their home country in May 2023 and caught fish in Indonesian waters since Jan 12, 2024. The ship also carried 12 Indonesian crew members and 18 foreign crew members from China. The Acting Director General of Marine and Fisheries Resources Supervision at the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (PSDKP-KKP), Pung Nugroho Saksono, who led the operation to capture the foreign ships, stated that the capture was expected to uncover the underlying crimes of transnational and organized crime involving foreign-national fishing boat syndicates. The case will be further investigated. Report with photo: https://www.kompas.id/baca/english/2024/05/20/en-penerima-manfaat-akan-dijerat
VENTURA
Nearly 250 passengers were affected by gatro illness aboard the 'Ventura' off the Canary Islands. Although health measures have been taken to stem the gastroenteritis pandemic, some vacationers have had to isolate themselves in their cabins. Nearly 3,000 passengers and 1,200 crew members were on board the cruise ship. To contain the disease, vacationers had to follow strict health protocols The 'Ventura' had left the port of Southampton, UK, on May 11 for a 14-day cruise around the Spanish islands. During the last four days, things have gotten complicated. Enhanced disinfection has taken place at the port of Tenerife. The measures put in place involved the closure of on-board laundries and a ban on serving passengers at buffets. There would have been 150 of them isolating themselves in their cabin. Staff brought them food and bottles of water during her isolation. The testimonies collected from passengers seem to point towards a virus present on board before their boarding.
MV KARAR
A police officer has linked the Castañas clan, from Andalusia, with those accused of the stash of 3,800 kilos of cocaine aboard the 'Karar' in 2020, and companies from Galicia and northern Portugal that manufacture semi-rigid boats like those used by drug traffickers. Police surveillance of the members of the Galician criminal group allegedly led by Juan Carlos Santórum, the main defendant in the 'Karar' plot, began in June 2019 - the ship was boarded in April 2020 - and confirmed trips from Andalusia by members from the Castañas, to Galicia and, from there, to Portugal. During these trips, they visited, according to investigators, ships in which vessels like those used by drug traffickers were built to receive drugs. The agent has mainly referred to the Galician Fidel F., one of the accused, who is dedicated to the manufacture of vessels in Galicia. In the trial being held at the Vigo headquarters of the Provincial Court of Pontevedra, where 28 people are accused, the second witness who testified this week has stated that he never saw a work routine for Santorum, his brother and other defendants. In his story, the police officer has also referred to other investigated persons who are not prosecuted, such as Sergio R.T., whom he has linked, through an intercepted telephone call to Fidel F., with a transaction to purchase 300 HP motors for boats. . In March 2020, the police detected that the businessman in the nautical sector was requesting naval gray paint from a company, the kind used to go unnoticed by the boats that transport drugs to shore. On March 27, all the alarms went off, according to the researcher, following the so-called loss of a Portuguese telephone to Fidel F., which he returned and in which there was no communication. "We don't give it importance, but there is a coincidence with the Central Narcotics Brigade and they tell us that a report from the DEA - United States Agency - related that telephone number to a ship that was bringing a large amount of cocaine. We interpret it as a notice for Fidel F. to contact them by another means because they do not usually use conventional lines," the police officer stated. A subsequent communication from the DEA told the agents that "a guarantee person" was traveling on the ship, a certain José, of Galician origin, and that the ship had departed from Panama. Thus, after filtering the data of travelers who had flown from Spain to the Central American country, they found another of the defendants, José B.G. They tracked the route of the 'Karar', and that coincided with a new call from the Portuguese telephone, in this case to a number located in Madrid, which is attributed to it in the letter of accusation to the Colombian René Robledo, to tell him that "the transport had passed all the points" and would arrive the following week. From there, the organization accelerated preparations to receive the shipment. After an hour and a half of testimony, the defenses protested because the witness, behind a screen, was consulting some notes - 9 pages with 63 days outlined - and the hearing was suspended for a few minutes so that the parties had access to those documents. Back in the room, the defenses have asked that the witness's statement be annulled for procedural fraud and violation of the law by appearing with a script, but the magistrate has rejected it.