SS Mediterran Frigo (Hansard, 7 December 1988)

§ Mr. Paul Flynn (Newport, West)

I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely, the decision of the authorities to allow the vessel SS Mediterran Frigo to leave Newport docks following a drugs raid. The matter is urgent because that vessel is now on the high seas, without a customs officer on board, after only one of its three holds was searched. About 48 hours ago, a quantity of drugs with a street value of £2 million was discovered on board the vessel. It is the third time that drugs have been discovered in Newport docks without a single arrest having been made.

The matter is specific because customs officers are inhibited by present laws from seizing any vessel with a weight of more than 250 tonnes and from conducting thorough investigations because they are liable to pay compensation for perishable cargoes that deteriorate. That ship has a cargo of bananas, which will deteriorate rapidly.

The matter is important because of the terrible damage done to many lives by those who traffic in drugs. By allowing customs officers to be inhibited in this way, we have created a position whereby the ship is heading for a port in Belgium, from which there is great difficulty in extraditing suspected offenders—we have had recent experience of that—and which is soft on drug traffickers, with a maximum sentence of two years for such an offence. Are we not encouraging drug trafficking by encouraging people to use big ships carrying perishable cargos heading for ports in Belgium and Holland?

In the Gracious Speech the Government said that they would continue the fight against international terrorism and against trafficking in drugs. By allowing that vessel to leave swiftly after such a brief investigation in Newport, are we not creating a charter for drug traffickers?