Sea captain Marko Bekavac on August 9 arrived in his homeland Croatia from Turkey, where he was detained on cocaine smuggling charges, according to a statement from the Croatian government.

The 62-year-old, a seaman of 44 years’ standing, was arrested in October 2023 in Turkey and charged with smuggling 137 kilograms of cocaine.

The drug was found aboard his Panamanian-flagged Phoenician-M vessel in the Black Sea port of Eregli. The 34,400-dwt bulk carrier was loaded with coal.

Set sail from Colombia

The vessel arrived in Eregli from Barranquilla in Colombia, according to media reports. Cocaine was discovered hidden among the cargo. Bekavac, his crew of eight and a first officer were arrested. The ship was released.

Before the ship departed Colombia, authorities there found a small amount of cocaine in the aft peak tank. Bekavac reported this fact to the Turkish authorities in Eregli.

Hard to nab suspects

Turkish authorities saw the captain and first officer as responsible for the security of the vessel and the drugs found onboard. Several maritime organisations and groups, meanwhile, said that the case was another example of seafarers being criminalised without adequate evidence.

On August 13, the International Transport Workers’ Federation said that it welcomed the release of Bekavac. The federation was, meanwhile, extremely concerned for the fate of Bekavac’s chief mate, Ali Albokhari, who remains in prison in Turkey.

The chief mate was, like Bekavac, sentenced to 30 years in prison. He is awaiting an appeal. His wife Elena Albokhari is campaigning to release him.

In the cocaine business, it is often hard to file criminal complaints against some types of suspects. For instance, in this case, it appears that there were hundreds of kilograms of cocaine on the ship and no one was aware that it was there.

Since 2017, Turkey has become a main route for Europe-bound cocaine. Currently, the country also has a strong domestic market for the drug. The pursuit of suspects responsible for this reality is rare indeed.

Surprise release

In September 2024, Bekavac received his prison sentence. The legal rulings used by the Turkish government to send him home are unknown.

The captain told his family that he might be taken to a different prison. But he was suddenly freed.

Victory of Croatian diplomacy

It looks like Bekavac was an important man in Croatia as the country’s government mobilised to save him from a Turkish jail cell.

Bekavac denied the charges from the start and was released thanks to a months-long joint effort made by the Croatian government and related authorities, Croatian justice minister Damir Habijan told government-run Hina news agency.

Croatia’s PM, Andrej Plenkovic, and foreign minister, Gordan Grlic Radman, discussed the matter with Turkish officials on several occasions, according to Habijan.

“I would especially like to highlight the contribution of the employees of the foreign ministry, the embassy in Turkey and the entire Croatian diplomacy,” Radman wrote in a tweet.