20 The IMO mission was informed of the setting up in June 1996 of an anti-piracy task force under the Federal Police to deal with all reports of piracy and armed robbery against ships. Investigations by the task force, had shown that only one gang was responsible for all the attacks in the port of Santos. Most of the attacks were on cargo ships and occurred between 00.00 hrs and 04.00 hrs. The victims were normally the ships' crew or the passengers. As a result of the integration of local and Federal law enforcement agencies in the task force, nine arrests were made since 1996.
21 The Brazilian authorities identified social problems as the root cause of most criminal activities in the region. Poverty, unemployment and a growing band of people living outside the mainstream of society were specifically mentioned. It was hoped, that with improved employment prospects and better living standards, crime would become unattractive for most except the hard core criminals.
22 The authorities acknowledged that some of the cases investigated were daring attacks carried out by armed men who boarded the ship, when alongside, by the stern, but many were attributed to laxity by the crew in guarding the access to the ship, poor illumination and, in some cases, people who were assisted or invited by the crew to board the ship. It was pointed out that, in addition to actions taken and contemplated by the security agencies, preventive actions on the part of the crew would always be necessary.
Port of Rio de Janeiro
23 The mission visited Rio de Janeiro on 23 October 1998 and held a meeting with a Brazilian delegation consisting of the Chief of the Federal Police in the city, representatives from the Port Management and other officials in charge of port security. Annexes 3 and 4 give the list of participants to the meetings.
24 The Chief of the Federal Police confirmed the report given by the Santos Police that many of the armed robbery incidents compiled by IMO had not been reported to them either by the ship masters concerned or their agents in Rio de Janeiro. For that reason, they had not been able to investigate the incidents. Eventhough the Federal Police was responsible for security in the port, including anti-piracy activities, they did not receive the monthly reports on piracy and armed robbery against ships published by IMO. They were therefore unable to obtain a full picture of developments in the port in this regard. The police were further handicapped by not having any boats for patrolling the port and its approaches.
25 Despite the above problems, the Federal Police had succeeded in identifying some of the gangs involved in attacks on ships and a number of arrests had been made. In their opinion, this had led to a drop in the number of attacks reported in the port in the first half of 1998.
26 The Federal Police expected to increase their capability to go to the assistance of ships at anchor outside the port when they take delivery of three patrol boats and one helicopter which were on order. The new acquisition would consist of 10-metre and 21-metre boats with the bigger boats equipped with machine guns. Twenty officers belonging to the Police were already undergoing training for the operation of the boats and the helicopter. Other agencies would also be involved in the effort but the Federal Police would retain the co-ordinating role. The police was confident that the new measures would significantly improve the situation.
