The IMO representative explained that the principal purpose of the mission was to increase awareness of the problem; impress upon the Governmental representatives concerned the need for action; and, more importantly, motivate political will to act at national and regional levels.
He then went on mentioning the terms of reference for the mission, as had been agreed during consultations in London between representatives of the Governments concerned and the IMO Secretariat. He added that a summary of the report of the mission would be submitted to MSC 70 (December 1998) and the full report to MSC 71 (May 1999).
15 The Brazilian delegation informed the meeting that there were several agencies in the port of Santos dealing with different aspects of security including anti-smuggling and anti-piracy activities. These agencies are co-ordinated by the Federal Police. Of the twenty-five reports of armed robbery against ships in Brazilian waters received by IMO in 1997, the Brazilian authorities were aware of only four. Sixteen of the incidents reported to IMO were attacks on ships at anchor or alongside and the Brazilian authorities confirmed that so cases of violence against the crew had been reported. 62% of all reported incidents had occurred in Santos, 21% in Rio de Janeiro and the rest in Rio Grande and Belem. The police recognized the difficulty of eliminating all unlawful acts altogether and, therefore, their principal aim was to reduce such acts to a minimum.
16 The IMO mission was informed of a growing traffic in illegal drugs and firearms and the alleged involvement of ships' crew in this illegal trade. It was even suggested that some crew members were taking advantage of the risk classification of Brazilian ports to steal cash from the ship or sell narcotic products normally held in the captain's charge and atrributing the loss to pirate attacks.
17 The IMO mission took the opportunity to inform the Brazilian delegation of a series of FAL seminars and workshops on the prevention and suppression of the smuggling of drugs, psychotropic substances and precursor chemicals on ships engaged in international maritime traffic planned by IMO for Latin American counties in 1999. The contents of resolution A.872 (20) on the subject were also discussed and the authorities were encouraged to send appropriate representatives to attend the seminars and workshops.
18 The IMO experts were informed of the deep concern of the Government of Brazil at the number of incidents of armed robbery in Brazilian ports and the determination of the authorities to take a decisive and firm action to prevent and suppress such acts. To this end, the Navy ad Federal Police had recently purchased a fast patrol boat for the use of the Federal Police in Santos in anti-armed robbery patrols. In addition to the purchase of equipment, staff training in anti-armed robbery measures was going on and investigation of all reported cases was being carried out by the Ministry of Justice and the Federal Police.
19 With regard to the incidents contained in the monthly reports circulated by IMO, it was observed that many of them were not reported to the local authorities by the shipmasters either at the time of occurrence or after they had let the ports. For this reason, it had not been possible for the Federal Police to investigate the incidents, as, according to Brazilian law, only cases reported to the police can be investigated. It was pointed out that the lack of reporting of incidents by shipmasters was hindering the efforts of the law enforcement agencies to carry out investigations which would lead to the prosecution of the criminals involved.
