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Russian Sailors Detained in Benin
Four sailors of Russia have been arrested in Benin's capital, Cotonou, and are currently kept under detention in a local hotel. The owner of the vessel, Azure Service of Greece, blames the theft of the ship’s chest on them. Of interest is that exactly Azure Service owned African Pride, which was arrested together with the crew, including 12 Russians, in October 2003 in Nigeria. Those sailors returned home only in two years after the arrest.
The names of the Russians detained in Benin are Vasily Zavadsky, who was the captain of Skanner, his mate Vladimir Pchyolin, senior mechanic Alexey Yakubovsky and sailor Vasily Poziba.
Kommersant learnt about the incident from the Pchyolin’s friend. She said: “He called me October 31 by mobile phone and said: “We were caught at the hotel by people armed with sub-machine guns. They haven’t let us out for four days already. They took our documents and money. The ship’s owners blame the theft of the ship’s chest on us.” I had no time to ask the name of the hotel, the phone number wasn’t displayed either. The only thing I know is they were detained in Cotonou. Relatives are anxious about their fate.”
Sergey Deryushev, chief of the consulate department of Russia’s embassy in Benin, shed light on details of the incident. Azure Service, Deryushev said, is notorious for late payment of salaries and the crew of Zavadsky was among the victims.
The Russian sailors were to leave for Moscow October 27. A few days before it, Zavadsky admitted aboard the Philippine sailors and was to deliver them to Lagos port of Nigeria. But before heading for Nigeria, Zavadsky requested the owners to confirm the transfer of sailors’ money to Russia. The confirmation was duly received, not for the whole amount though. The Greek firm paid just for 20 days of October instead of five-month settlement.
Zavadky refused to go to Lagos till the money is paid, and was ordered to pass control to the Philippine captain. Someone from the Greek company called him to warn about imminent troubles.
In the boat, four Russians sailed to the port to face a marine agent and police there. The police searched the sailors for drugs and weapons but found around $21,000.
The police commissioner said they were notified by the ship’s owner about $50,000 missed from the chest. The Russians were arrested despite that there wasn’t a penny in it according to the documents.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 02, 2006
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