Deplorable behaviour from Marina manager and other yachties

[Rustic Charm]

I won't aim this at anyone in particular, but I'll certainly support the OP. Despite never having travelled in that part of the world, I have travelled in Africa, Asia, Vietnam and the South Pacific (not as a sailor).

I was a cop for 14 years in a very conservative Australian state. During that time I never had any aspirations to join the CIB or Drug squad, which was where the 'detectives' lived. And that was for the sole reason that I had no respect for them and no wish to be associated with working too closely with them. Why? Because 'most' of their work up until the early 90's were what they called, 'bricks', and 'throw downs' or 'confessions' which whilst a proper word was almost always associated with a 'beating'. In my first four months out of the academy I witnessed two CIB officers literally beat a handcuffed 17 year old, not even seeking a confession but 'softening' him up for an interview. This beating only stopped when I interjected and then they verbally turned on me. After that I worked with some retired CIB officers who worked in uniform and the stories they would tell me, cemented my opinion of their so call professionalism. This culture all started to change due to a Victorian case called McKinny and Judge vs the Queen which very oddly concluded that 'police are capable of telling lies'. That was a remarkable break through and had ramifications throughout Australia. In addition there were trials occurring in Britain that also had huge ramifications for Australia. Within five years 'pre interviews' were gone and audio taping of all interviews were introduced. By 95 video interviewing was introduced. And it was put in law that 'unsigned confessions and confessions made under duress were inadmissible'. CIB had to radically convert from a 'thug' attitude to 'evidence and science' based. Policing in many Australian states have taken dramatic changes in professionalism in many places. Police started introducing College graduates and professionals and 'integrity' standards. And some states had dramatic anti corruption investigations which even collapsed corrupt governments.

The reason I started with this is because if this went on in a so called modern policing first world, then it's not so hard to imagine what still goes on in many third world countries and especially countries that have poor human rights issues like in the U.S and many Asian countries. It's nothing to do with being paranoid, it's simply a fact of life and mores so in some places you travel.

In a number of places in Africa and also in Vietnam, police are paid a sum which they can't possibly live off. It's expected they make up the balance through 'payments' etc. In Vietnam, your family 'pays' for you to become a police officer and pays for you to have rank. The payment fee can be subsidised by a loan, which then has to be paid back throughout your police career. It's obvious how this has to be done.

In reading the OP's original story it rings very true to me. But as a former cop myself, my suspicion is that they had 'intelligence' which is why they gave you the forth degree. Their intelligence was obviously wrong, but just the same, that's what it looks like. My suspicions are increased with the tracking device you found because it sounds very low tech and also no doubt illegal too.

No matter how wrong police are, I always encourage people not to get emotional, not to get angry and certainly don't be belligerent. It only takes one or two that get their backs up and next thing you know they do 'find' something which could not possibly have been there before. And despite in most 1st world countries the presumption of innocence is not a right every where.

Video's are becoming more popular and thankfully the more professional organisations are videoing everything they do. Getting a copy of it afterwards is harder though. And even if you do manage to 'get off' in court, you will have been put through a hell of an uncomfortable time, possibly years fighting it.

The main purpose of my post was to point out that anyone who believes, 'you have nothing to be afraid of if you have done nothing wrong' is just incredibly naive.

[s/v Beth]

Originally Posted by weavis

You will go to port.

They can use all force necessary to get you to comply.

OK, I think I am understanding this thread correctly. If I allow another Navy, say off the coast of Mexico, to "inspect" me and they find nothing, they can still force me into their home port and tear my boat apart and I have to pay all damages.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

OK, I think I am understanding this thread correctly. If I allow another Navy, say off the coast of Mexico, to "inspect" me and they find nothing, they can still force me into their home port and tear my boat apart and I have to pay all damages.

Uumm. you do not "allow' them. They will board you despite the sometimes polite request to do so. You will be instructed to heave to, boarded, checked and depending on what they think, either let go or escorted to shore.

You can fight it in court afterwards. It would appear most countries adhere to the maxim "better to ask forgiveness than permission", and that forgiveness is not even requested.

I think you can view this policy in action with the US authorities and police doing stuff they know is illegal but doing it anyway and fixing it down the line in court, if you can afford it.

[socaldmax]

Since we're kinda talking about drugs...


a very good friend of mine when we were in the Navy called me over one evening. His wife had bought a used dresser from someone else in Navy housing and was removing the drawers to clean them out when she found about 1/2 lb of pot (all buds) in a 1 gal ziplock baggie taped to the back side of a drawer.

He's a really sharp guy and called base security right away. He explained the whole thing to the guy at security, the the guy at security told him to flush it down the toilet. When he asked why, he was told that the paperwork had no way of explaining that the weed was voluntarily turned in.

If they came to his house, they would have to document the visit and fill out the form. The form would ask the reason for the visit, if anything was confiscated, what it was, weight, etc. But nowhere on the form was there any place to explain that it was voluntarily surrendered. So it didn't matter if he called to turn it in, if they showed up, they would have to fill out the forms like it was a raid, and someone would have to be arrested in the process because he would be technically found in possession of 1/2 lb of weed on gov't property.

So he hung up the phone and had me come over and witness him dump a portion in, and flush, then dump the rest in, and flush. All 3 of us had tears in our eyes.

He told me a few days later that the son of the lady who sold the dresser stopped by in the hopes of getting his stuff back. Talk about pushing his luck!!


I did know a guy who had to be the most unlucky smuggler on the planet. He owned a pretty popular auto repair shop specializing in MB and Porsche cars only. He decided he needed some quick money, so he drove his 500SL down to Mexico and bought a bunch of exotic birds, which they gassed and put into the door panels. He pulled the fuses on the window motors so he wouldn't accidentally crush any of the birds.

He pulls up to the TJ border crossing and has to open the door to talk to the BP agent. The BP agent thinks it's odd that such an expensive car can't roll down the windows, so he sends it into secondary. He's sitting in secondary for quite a while, and by the time an agent shows up to check it out, a few of the birds wake up and start squawking and they arrest him and impound his car.

Shortly after, while out on bail, he decides he needs more money to fix his more recent problems and sets up a big weed buy through a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy.

He takes his 30+ ft fishing boat down off the coast of Mexico and fishes out several bales of weed that he paid for and stashes them in various compartments. He heads back north and right as he ties up to the dock, he gets swarmed with DEA agents. They go right to the compartments and pull it all out.

Well, it turns out that one of the guys involved in making the connections felt that his cut wasn't big enough and told the Mexican seller he wanted more money. The answer was tough, that's all you get. So he called the DEA and told them the date, time and vessel name and they had him under surveillance via aircraft the entire time, he had no clue.

He got convicted for the bird fiasco, then got convicted for the weed fiasco. The only smart thing he did was keep his wife out of it all and kept the house in her name. He lost everything else, including about 12 yrs of his life.

As for the idea to get the CG or someone to run a drug dog through your used boat as a precaution, that's an excellent idea. The military is always telling their members to bring their freshly bought used cars down to base security and they'll run the dog through it for you at no charge, no risk. Better then than in a random search, that's for sure.

I got pulled over in a fwy border checkpoint after the drug dog alerted on my truck. They asked me if I had just bought the truck or had anyone else left anything in it about 10 times, probably to give me the benefit of the doubt. Everything in it was mine, and I'd owned it for 13 yrs.

I did over hear 2 of the CBP agents talking about it may have been a roach that someone threw out of their car in front of mine and my rear tire picked p a bit if it, because the dog alerted ot my left rear tire, not any of the 4 doors like you would expect. They inspected the tire and wheel well area very closely, but nothing was there.

They ran the dog around 3 more times and it didn't alert again, so they let me go. Of course, ever the smart ass, I joked, "Time to get your dog's nose recalibrated..." and the female handler gave a little chuckle at that.

[boatman61]

By the by.. Club Nautico was never welcoming before the 'Public' marina was built.. unless you were a respected YC member in your home country.. I always had to use the anchorage till they built the new marina.. so them telling you to bog orf after the search is no surprise.. you were not of a socially acceptable standard..
The main marina however I have always found very helpful and friendly

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by Duct Tape

A White Ensign works wonders...

The French national flag?

[GoingWalkabout]

Originally Posted by seagypsywoman

There is a story going around about a cruiser who got fed up with being boarded all the time and having to clean up the mess afterward , so the next time he saw the coast guard coming near, he emptied a can of cream of mushroom soup into a pot on the stove. By the time the coasties boarded, the soup started burning and the smell combined with the motion of a small boat especially while searching through the bilges had the coasties feeling rather nauseous. According to the story, they left rather quickly.
In another story, some party cruisers who wanted to have more whiskey aboard than reasonably allowed, filled one of the water tanks with it.

Isn't that what water tanks are for? After all whiskey is mostly water.

[35S]

Originally Posted by brightontrader

That may well be what caused the search off Spain as the female magistrate did mention Newhaven Customs involvement during the 6 hour search.

Hi Brightontrader.

Having read your accounts I would think that the (unhappy) Newhaven Customs (Official) must have listed you / your boat on some Interpol watch list of drug running suspects. There is no other way that the female magistrate could have known about the previous incident.

The "search operation" of your boat already started when your boat was broken into in Portugal and the tracking device was fitted.

If I were you I would contact Interpol in my home country and try and find out if this is the case and have the record set straight otherwise you could expect repeat incidences in the future or perhaps it is time for another (well painted) cutter lol

[Claude_Marie]

Originally Posted by 35S

The "search operation" of your boat already started when your boat was broken into in Portugal and the tracking device was fitted.

If I were you I would contact Interpol in my home country and try and find out if this is the case and have the record set straight otherwise you could expect repeat incidences in the future or perhaps it is time for another (well painted) cutter lol

Rather than Interpol, may I suggest :

http://www.maoc.eu/

Based in Portugal....guess where ?
Lisbon !
Bingo !!
:-)

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by 35S

Hi Brightontrader.

Having read your accounts I would think that the (unhappy) Newhaven Customs (Official) must have listed you / your boat on some Interpol watch list of drug running suspects. There is no other way that the female magistrate could have known about the previous incident.

The "search operation" of your boat already started when your boat was broken into in Portugal and the tracking device was fitted.

If I were you I would contact Interpol in my home country and try and find out if this is the case and have the record set straight otherwise you could expect repeat incidences in the future or perhaps it is time for another (well painted) cutter lol

You do realise that Interpol is not a police organisation in its own right?
This sort of enquiry needs to be done through whatever your countries 'Federal' or otherwise 'National' police organisation is. Such as the Australian federal police in Australia as an example. Though I doubt you'd be successful, probably just laugh at you.

[brightontrader]

Yes well now I have got a beautifully awlgripped (steel) boat, the only slight issue is that I bought it in Terneuzen, Holland, a country best known for smokable drugs however these days I think they just grow it, not smuggle it.

I must say I am amazed at the response to this thread though.

Some Yachties (British) can be very anti social sometimes in their behaviour. Another example, while I have an audience, is:

Under boat arrest in Asseb Eritrea during the war with Ethiopia in '98 under suspician of spying I was called up by a passing British yacht on 16 (as my arrest had made the UK national news) asking me to describe the port there, when I said I didn't think that was a great idea he then proceeded to say that they (the rally) thought I must have been up to something.......I didn't get the rest....It was a scary time for me as it was, they had announced at the time of my arrest that any foreigners caught helping the Ethiopians would get the chop.

What is it with these rally sailors....are they all pig stupid or what..

As a footnote, I had chartered previously to some American Archeologists searching for religious artifacts on the Dalak Desert Islands 250 miles north of there and had had a great time in Masawa and on several trips to Asmara. Its a beautiful country and Christian predominately, not Muslim. The reason I mention the religion is that there are bars selling booze there.....and women without yachmaks/burkas etc, stunning ones in fact.

[Dulcesuenos]

Originally Posted by jtsailjt

Remove your tinfoil hat?

Other than in adventure novels, when have you ever heard of this happening?.

Seriously?
More often than you'd think in the good old U.S.
The most of the Sarasota Fl police force was jailed or fired for it.
Google " cop caught planting drugs or evidence" there's over 10 pages of police abuse including murder caught on tape. Then re think your question

Sent from my LG-LS980 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Dulcesuenos]

Originally Posted by socaldmax

The French national flag?

Rolfmao. That made me laugh,,,,
Good old french battle cry,,, Runawayyyyy

Sent from my LG-LS980 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Dulcesuenos

Seriously?
More often than you'd think in the good old U.S.
The most of the Sarasota Fl police force was jailed or fired for it.
Google " cop caught planting drugs or evidence" there's over 10 pages of police abuse including murder caught on tape. Then re think your question

Sent from my LG-LS980 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

Funny you should bring this up. This was my stamping ground in medical practice. We would work with the Police in taking blood samples and medical procedures. A medical colleague pieced together over time, the actions of a couple of LEO's that was not consistent with their statements of the patients injuries during arrest. The information was relayed to senior police chief in another county and eventually an investigation was started which uncovered corruption and incidents like mentioned above.

Nothing has changed. Not really. You just have to be street smart and know the right people to not get caught by the rogue ones.

Life aint all Mom and Apple pie.

[35S]

Originally Posted by Claude_Marie

Rather than Interpol, may I suggest :

Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre (Narcotics) - MAOC(N)

Based in Portugal....guess where ?
Lisbon !
Bingo !!
:-)

Interesting!! - I would start somewhere though there was a reason for what happended & Interpol not that difficult to contact from your own country especially if you a complaint.

Good luck.