Drama of bulk carrier crew – arrested, no charges yet and no trial, kept in inhuman conditions:

Aug 17: The story is going on without any light in the end of the tunnel. Crew is Filipino with 3 senior officers, including Master, being Polish nationals. All were arrested. On the night Jul 26-27 Master of UBC SAVANNAH ordered immediate stop to all cargo operations and to close holds, when informed by crew, that suspicious packages were found in hold deck during offloading of cargo. He duly informed local authorities. On Jul 27 the ship was boarded by law enforcement personnel and authorities, but no crew were arrested, for the time being. They were arrested, all crew, some two days later. Their cabins were searched, all their personal belongings including money were seized, without issuing any search warrants. All crew are kept, since, in one cell, excluding Master, who’s locked in a single cell.

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From the article it appears things in Mexico are the same as they have always been. The crew notices something suspicious, does the right thing & reports it to the Master. The Master does the right thing & reports it to the authorities. The authorities do exactly as expected by incarcerating everyone for a shake down. The crew & Master will be released as soon as the right officials get paid off & the drugs will show up missing shortly after.

Two of the things I don’t miss about working in Mexico & some African nations is the blatant corruption & “no win” situations. This appears to be a “no-win” situation for the Master & crew. If they didn’t report it & were caught then they would have been guilty. If they threw the drugs overboard & were caught they would have been found guilty & risked being killed by the narcos. Instead they broke a golden rule & initiated contact with a corrupt legal system & risked spending the next couple of years in a hellhole prison. It sucks to be them.

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I don’t believe this. All the boomer retirees tell me Mexico is great and safe and has amazing healthcare that is cheaper than the USA. They all go to Mexico to spend their golden years…“don’t believe the negative stories you hear on the news”.

I worked in Mexico for 3 years & lived there when I was off to avoid paying Federal taxes on the first $77k +/- at the time. I’m sure your retired friends didn’t settle down in the states of Tampaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco or Campeche where there’s widespread corruption & still have a drug war going on which the media has almost stopped reporting on. On one of my family’s annual trips to Tampico, Mexico a few years ago an American captain from Foss was killed on Christmas Day & it wasn’t even reported in the Mexican media. During that same trip I was stopped at a red light next to an Oxxo which is like a 7-11. I glanced into the store & there was a guy who appeared to be dead covered in blood motionless at the register. One of my wife’s cousin who was at our wedding was a taxi driver in Tampico & he didn’t come home one evening. They found his tortured body a week later swollen up on the north bank of the river Panuco which separates Tampico from the state of Veracruz. One of the best driving routes to get to that area (& to Altimira which is in the article) from the U.S. is from McAllen, TX-Victoria-Tampico. I used to drive it all the time. On the route there’s a small pueblo called San Fernando which is now a ghost town, nothing but hollowed out brick buildings & burnt shacks the last time we went through. Google the words “San Fernando Death Pits” to see what scared off all the residents. Sure, the Yucatan is still like old Mexico & my wife’s family now has our reunions over there now but don’t to listen to all the stories from rich white people living behind guarded walls on the Yucatan & believe that is what all of Mexico is like. I can go on for hours with first hand nightmares about that country.

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My bad…I forgot one bit in my post. Please add this to the end of the Mexico comment: /sarcasm

I totally agree with your points.

Sorry to revive an old thread, but the case is not “dead” yet.
The Captain is still in custody in Mexico awaiting trial:

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Too bad he didn’t work for MSC or at least go to Philadelphia.

“A citizen from ‘superpower’ countries wouldn’t have to endure this. The captain of UBC Tokyo , who has a German passport, spent two weeks under home arrest instead of prison, during trial the judge dropped the charges against him for exactly the same case,” said Rusinek.

This may be a case of the Polish government not understanding the Mexican way of doing things. They have 2 options: either send a delegation of high ranking officials with a planeload of cash or do it the cartel way, send in the GROM in civvies and extract him by force. If the captain had been a cartel man, they’d have stormed the prison and gotten him out in less than 24 hours.

Have not been to near as many countries as many of the members on this forum. Mexico was the worst as far as bribes and rudeness to get things done. The “Officials” clearing us for customs always had their hands out, the pilots would board just before dark and disembark because it was “Too dark to sail”, resulting in double charges for pilots, tugs, linehandlers, and other associated port charges. The cargo handlers stole half of our meager pantry, The customs guy wanted to look at my “Store”. Had ball caps and cigarettes for the officials in my stateroom. . Handed them to him and said “This is for your friends”, His reply? “I have no friends”.Was almost comical as he was tugging on the cartons of Marlboros I was giving to the pirates/officials in the galley down below. Even his fellow partner was smiling at this fat bastards greed. Looked like the sargeant from the old Zorro series, only in Khakis. Worst port I ever went to. Coatzacoalcos. Funny it is interpeted as “River of snakes”

The ship is still at anchor just outside the port. The vessel’s owner needs to give Max Hardberger a call.

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They are probably waiting for the Captain to get out of jail. :grin:

BTW: I notice that the UBC Tokyo is also at the anchorage. (Since early April)

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