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Captain, accused of labour exploitation and human trafficing, provisionally released

The 56 year old Galician captain of the "Loitador", who had been detained in Lisbon on Feb 1 upon returning from Cape Verde, has been provisionally released, and the ship left the port again en route to Montevideo. It will be the National Court that decides whether he should be extradited to Argentina on charges of "labour exploitation". The case, was opened by the Caleta Olivia Prosecutor's Office (province of Santa Cruz, Argentina) against the captain after complaint came from the doctor who treated a Senegalese sailor in June 2017, who arrived in a coma after his evacuation and recounted torturous treatment - working 22 hours a day, from Monday to Monday. Argentina has assumed that it has jurisdiction because the trawler made two stops in the Malvinas during the four months in which these alleged abuses against crew members continued. Sources from the legal representation of the shipowner, Profesionales Pesqueros, did not specify details regarding the intervention by police officers. The captain was now with his family, awaiting the holding of a court hearing, which will determine whether or not he should be extradited to Argentina to give a statement there. The hearing will be held at the National Court, under the provisions of article 12 of the Passive Extradition Law. On Nov 13, 2024, the captain's arrest was ordered by the Federal Court of Caleta Olivia, which had issued the red notice through Interpol. The red notice is a request addressed to law enforcement agencies around the world to locate and provisionally detain a person pending extradition or surrender. The arrest was concretized by the Spanish police on Dec 18; the captain gave a statement for three hours and was provisionally released. He is accused of a «crime of human trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation», taking advantage of the vulnerable situation of the evacuated sailor, E. Thiam, aged 35 at the time.

Captain arrested for human trafficing and labour exploitation after crew member was medevaced in coma

The captain of the 'Loitador has been arrested by the Caleta Olivia Prosecutor's Office, in the province of Santa Cruz in Argentina, after being investigated in Argentina accused of human trafficking, specifically of Senegalese sailors from his crew for the purposes of labour exploitation. The case dates back to June 5, 2017, when a crew member was medevaced in a coma 135 nautical miles from Puerto Deseado. The 56-year-old detainee was arrested for these events after a red notice was issued through Interpol. The health condition of the Senegalese sailor and his subsequent statement in court allowed the Public Prosecutor's Office to move forward on the criminal hypothesis of human trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation, given that the sailor maintained that he performed exhausting work of up to 22 hours a day, seven days a week, all of this in unhealthy conditions, without adequate clothing and poor food, for which he received a salary below the minimum established by international standards. The employment contract had a duration from a few months to two years. According to the indictment, the captain had accepted and housed a Senegalese sailor on February 15, 2017, among at least three others, whose vulnerable situations were abused. The victims were previously contacted through the shipping company, which paid for their plane ticket from Senegal to Cabo Blanco, from where the ship sailed, to exploit them. All of this was done by depositing a sum of money less than the minimum wage, working around 22-hour work days from Monday to Monday in the filleting area in the hold of the vessel, without rest or appropriate medical assistance. They also had no place to rest or recreation, nor appropriate clothing, nor healthy conditions of hygiene and adequate food. All of this caused the evacuated sailor to suffer from malnutrition, hypothermia and dehydration, until the urgent disembarkation of the victim had to be ordered. He arrived at the hospital in a coma, not located in time and space and with sensory motor impairment (hypothymic), despite having entered the vessel in a fit physical condition. For these reasons, the arrest of the captain of the vessel was ordered on Nov 13, 2024, by the Federal Court of Caleta Olivia, with the man being arrested on Dec 18 in Spain. On Dec 20 the court requested the extradition of the accused. Already in 2019, the Public Prosecutor's Office requested the summons to give a statement from the captain, with a summons order being issued on Dec 26, 2024 and, finally, an arrest warrant. At the end of 2023, the Government of Spain reported the sanction of 25 vessels, most of them Galician companies, for deactivating AIS transmitters while fishing on the high seas near the coast of Argentina, among which was the 'Loitador', from the Vigo shipowner Profesionales Pesqueros. In June 2021, the European Commission sent the Spanish Administration a letter accompanied by a report from the NGO Oceana, which denounced practices on Spanish fishing vessels regarding the switching off of the automatic identification system for illegal fishing purposes. Thus, a serious infringement was detected on the vessel 'Loitador' for sailing during time intervals between 2020 and 2021 without keeping the AIS in operation at all times. The fine imposed was 15,000 euros, with a reduction to 12,000 euros when the company recognised its responsibility and paid it in April 2023. Among these sanctioning files of the General Directorate of the Merchant Navy there was also a fine of 150,000 euros to Grupo Nores, owner of the Villa de Pitanxo, for deactivating AIS.