The drug bust report on the cruise ship in Australia exposed some serious shortcomings in Princess Cruises’ shipboard security. As a result cruise companies have been warned they need to step up their security following the seizure of 95 kg of drugs on board MS Sea Princess.
There were drug bust report in the past years of relatively small quantities on cruise ships. But 95 kilos (over 209 lbs.!) of cocaine has surprised a lot of people.
Guesses and Opinions:
Given the strict security screening in cruise ships, many suspect an insider’s hand in this incident.
whether the drugs got loaded onto the ship along with food and provisions and then transferred to the passengers cabin for to be smuggled off the ship in their luggage.
If the shipboard security team wasn’t involved, they obviously need to enforce far better protocols to carefully screen baggage and items brought onboard the ship.
IHS Fairplay published an article today saying that the drug bust “highlights the ability for more sinister items to be smuggled onto vessels.” In an article titled Drugs Find Highlights Cruise Security Threat, Fairplay says that “cruise companies were taking, and continue to take, security seriously but that the incident had to act as a wake-up call to revisit current systems.” It quoted Gerry Northwood, a principal of the international maritime security company MAST, explaining that cruise passengers don’t face the same restrictions as air travelers.
Northwood also warns that “If a terrorist were to secrete an explosive device inside a consignment of food, it is possible that the explosion would likely happen below the water line with obvious implications for the vessel and the safety of the passengers and crew.”
Commander Mark Gaouette, the former security head of Cunard and Princess Cruises, said in an interview today that the cruise industry should be concerned with the possibility of a terrorist group masterminding a gigantic conflagration on a ship. He cites the 2004 attack by an Islamic terrorist group which planted just eight kilograms of TNT in a cardboard box aboard the Superferry 14 in the Philippines. The resulting fire and explosion killed over a hundred passengers and sank the ferry.
Commander Gaouette is the author of Cruising for Trouble, Cruise Ships As Soft Targets for Pirates, Terrorists and Common Criminals.
Read More: Could Big Cruise Ships Become Terrorist Targets?
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Source: Cruise Law News
