Brazilian police have classified the investigation and are looking into possible connections between the crew members and whoever attempted to use their vessel, bulk carrier M/S Jawor, to smuggle a large shipment of cocaine to Europe, Polish private radio RMF FM reported.
On October 4, the crew of Jawor, anchoring in the northern Brazilian port of São Luís, noticed a seal on a door leading to the ship’s void space had been broken. Inside, they found bags containing half a ton of cocaine.
In accordance with the procedures, the ship’s captain notified the shipping agent of the find, who in turn notified Brazilian law enforcement.
According to Rafał Sznabel, the ship’s captain, the drugs must have been planted at night, with the smugglers likely using a small vessel to approach and board the ship.
Uncertainty
All members of the crew, which is made up of Poles, Ukrainians, Bulgarians and Romanians, have already been interviewed by the police. Due to language barriers and a lack of interpreters, some of the crew members were interviewed using Google Translate.
The police also confiscated the phones of three crew members, two of whom already had their devices returned to them.
Sznabel told RMF FM that the crew is uncertain as to what to expect.
He said: “We were only offhandedly told that we would receive information at an appropriate time.”
The attorney representing the crew did not have much more luck learning more from law enforcement. The only thing he could tell the crew was that hopefully more could be learned in the upcoming days, Sznabel said.
The sailors are nevertheless trying to maintain composure.
“It was the toughest at the beginning, all my men were scared. Now it’s a little better, we’ve hardened a bit and gotten used to it,” said Sznabel, adding that thanks to access to the Internet, they can at least stay in touch with their loved ones.
What worries them are their paychecks. In October, the Polish Steamship Company (PŻM) that owns Jawor, paid them for the month of September according to rates for sailors on voyage.
With the ships stuck in the harbor, however, they will only be entitled to their basic rate, which will amount to only about one-fifth of the previous paycheck.
The crew will be stranded in Brazil at least until January. If the federal police do not rule the crew out as suspects, the sailors may be forced to remain on anchor in Brazil for another three months.
