Transports Ministry gives explanations over Moldovan-flagged freighter caught carrying 2.4 tons of cocaine

Chisinau, 14 December /MOLDPRES/- A ship under the Moldovan flag was detained in the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, on 11 December. The ship was carrying 2.4 tons of cocaine from Colombia to Poland. It is the largest seizure of cocaine ever in France in the last ten years. Members of the crew were Ukrainian and Turkish citizens, according to a press release of the Transports and Road Infrastructure Ministry.

The ministry states that the “CARIB PALM” ship was temporarily registered in the State Registry of Moldovan Ships on 5 October 2015. At the time of the incident, the ship was in the process of the permanent registration procedure. Before temporarily registering the ship, institutions in charge had verified the history of the ship and the identity of the owner. As the latter did not appear anywhere on the lists of natural and legal persons under sanctions or embargo, the ship was accepted for temporary registration”.

However, before permanent registration, the ship was supposed to be inspected by Moldovan inspectors. “Such offenses have no link to the ship’s flag. Most of the time offenses are committed by the crew of the ship, without letting its owner know about their illegal activities,” the Transports and Road Infrastructure Ministry states.

According to it, international treaties in the field of maritime transport see that the jurisdiction and laws of the of the coastal state, port state, flag state or the state of each member of the crew are applied in case of criminal offences onboard. Depending on the geographic situation of the ship at the moment of the offence, the legislation of the hurt state or of the state mostly interested in the development of the investigation should be applied.

The ship is currently in France inland’s waters and was controlled in the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, in France, which in this situation is a coastal and port state. Respectively, the French legislation will be used to settle this case. According to the provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (of which Moldova is part), the coastal state (or port state) which legislation had been violated, may require that the flag state provide it with the information necessary to ensure an adequate development of the investigation.

At present, the public institution of Giurgiulesti port’s captainship stays in touch with the authorities of the Boulogne-sur-Mer port, as well as with the owner and operator of the ship and with the classification society the ship is registered in. In the execution of the duties of a flag state, Moldovan authorities in charge cooperate in order to detect and counteract illicit actions of ships under the Moldovan flag, or ships entering the Giurgiulesti port complex, regardless of their country flag.

The Transports and Road Infrastructure Ministry added that the captainship of Giurgiulesti port considers expelling the “CARIB PALM” ship from the State Register of Moldovan Ships, given the fact that the ship has no permanent registration in it.

(Reporter V. Bercu, Editor L. Alcaza)