Oceans are indispensable to our survival. Covering nearly 70 per cent of the planet, oceans feed us, provide us with jobs, and serve as the engine for much of the economy.
But their vastness provides an opportunity for transnational organized crime to operate.
As noted by Ghada Waly, “All countries, coastal and landlocked, rely on the security of the world’s oceans.” Ensuring maritime security is key to advancing sustainable development.
Ahead of World Maritime Day on 28 September – and nearly two years after the opening of the first Port Control Unit (PCU) in Namibia, supported by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) - UNODC met one of the people on the frontlines of maritime law enforcement in Namibia, Officer Fransiskus Negumbo. Fransiskus is a Detective Warrant Officer with the Commercial Crime Unit, currently seconded to the Container Control Program in Walvis Bay, Namibia.
“My life was threatened for doing my job.
I have conducted a number of maritime interdictions, involving both Namibian citizens and international operatives. It is not always easy.
When you deal with global maritime crime, you are challenging international criminal networks, and this has consequences.
I can’t provide details, but once I stopped a ship and arrested its crew members. After several weeks, I started receiving phone calls.
The first call came from a private number. The person introduced himself as a person of interest wanting to meet me and talk about the vessel. He invited me to a restaurant. I told him that I couldn’t do that and if he wanted information, he should come to the police station in the port. He said he couldn’t do that either but offered me one million NAD (50,000 USD) to release the vessel. When I refused, he told me to think about it and hung up.
After a few days, I received a call from another person, asking me if I had thought about the offer. I declined again, at which point the caller said that if I was going to be difficult, I would “see what would happen.”
And then I started being followed – sometimes to work, sometimes back home. There would always be the same black car following me. Thankfully, when I reported this to my office, I started getting protection from my colleagues, and eventually the following stopped.
There was an investigation into it as well, but sometimes these investigations don’t go anywhere because of the political corruption involved. I cannot disclose names, but several politicians were named and involved with the criminal syndicate.
I was in a relationship at the time and have a son. The fear wasn’t for my own safety. As a law enforcement officer, you are mentally prepared and know that one day you might wake up, go to work and never come back. But I feared for those who were close to me.
Things aren’t always straightforward when you conduct interdictions. Sometimes, you find that the crew was coerced and threatened into committing crimes by their captain or hardened criminals. They are not always bad people.
On one occasion, I arrested a vessel with a foreign crew – people from Asia and South Asia. They had been smuggled into Namibia and found themselves prisoners on the vessel, unable to leave. For two years, they had stayed on board without communicating with anyone, not their family, no one.
Those cases are very hard because you are dealing with people who are traumatized and then criminalized. Some of them were supported to return home. How many more years would they have remained captive if we hadn’t intervened?
It is important to do your job well, and for that you need to show emotional intelligence and empathy, so you can tell what is happening when it might not be immediately obvious to you.”
UNODC’s Global Maritime Crime Programme (GMCP) works closely with Member States in enhancing and coordinating their efforts against maritime crime.
On 24 September 2021, Namibia signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UNODC and World Customs Organization’s joint Container Control Programme (CCP). The MoU was signed by the Namibia Revenue Agency, the Namibian Police Force, the Namibian Ports Authority, and the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism. The event marked the official opening of the first Port Control Unit (PCU) in the country. The PCU, located in the seaport of Walvis Bay, is dedicated to countering illicit trafficking in maritime containers. PCU Walvis Bay is the first CCP Unit in Southern Africa to become operational. Another CCP/PCU was open in Luanda, Angola in 2021 and in Maputo, Mozambique in 2022.
