Laskaridis Shipping: Neither crew nor company involved in any way with discovery of suspected cocaine cache

Laskaridis Shipping on Friday afternoon issued an urgent announcement stating that crew-members of its bulk carrier Atlas (IMO: 9642368) was fully cooperating with Italian authorities, while underlining that neither the company nor any seafarer was involved in drug smuggling, following a comprehensive search of the vessel.

Italian authorities this week discovered roughly 850 kilos of cocaine wrapped in packages and hidden in the vessel’s water ventilation system.

The announcement reads, in part: “…the Laskaridis Shipping company, the commercial manager of the bulk transport vessel ATLAS (IMO: 9642368), is assisting in investigations of local authorities and law enforcement authorities in Italy, following the discovery of a suspicious contraband (believed to be cocaine) in the ship’s sea suction – nearly 11 meters below the waterline. The sea suction (tubes) is a section of the ship that is not accessible from the interior of the vessel and can be approached only by divers. The crew has provided full cooperation with authorities, which after a thorough investigation of the entire vessel, determined that neither the crew nor the company are in any way involved in the related event. The vessel had sailed from the loading port at Santos, Brazil on March 23 and, after loading fuel at Gibraltar, reached Venice, Italy for unloading on April 17, 2023. The smuggling was located by local authorities while the ship was moored at Venice. Since then, the vessel has proceeded to dock, according to the original timetable, and the commercial works for the unloading are proceeding as normal.”