Drug Trafficking A Big Issue For Kiribati Seamen
The German recruiting company responsible for hiring many i-Kiribati seamen is concerned about the number of them who have been convicted for drug trafficking.
“It’s sad to learn, that the number of cases is increasing,” South Pacific Marine Service (SPMS) Kiribati Manager Captain Peter Lange told reporters in Tarawa late last week.
“The benefits they will obtain for themselves and their families will be lost forever. And most importantly, this could affect the future recruitment of seamen from Kiribati by SPMS.”
Lange indicated there are now 19 seamen jailed overseas for drug trafficking while working abroad. “The first case was reported in 1995,” he said.
“Some of them have been imprisoned from six months to five years. And all of them involved cocaine. Eleven have been released and arrived home, but cannot be re-employed by SPMS. Six still remain imprisoned.”
One of those arrested was released after he was found not guilty. But he has been banned from going to America. And one died while trying to sell out his product.
SPMS adds that a German company, Leonhardt and Blumberg had stopped recruiting I-Kiribati seamen because most of them were caught on two of its ships.
“(They) were replaced by Filipinos,” Captain Lang says. Meanwhile, SPMS, the Kiribati government and relatives of seaman Tabai Namai, who was caught in December 2007 in Ningbo, Peoples Republic of China are still waiting anxiously to know his fate, as drug smuggling in China carries the death penalty.