When the bulk carrier UBC Savannah left the US port of New Orleans in February 2019 for Columbia, Captain Andrzej Lasota never imagined that when the ship arrived at its subsequent port of call of Altamira in Mexico, his world would turn upside down. And when Captain Lasota began his career at sea in 1969 at the age of 14, he never imagined that his 52-year seafaring career would end on the floor of a Mexican prison. Captain Lasota shares his story in an interview in support of BIMCO’s campaign to raise awareness about the rights and protection of seafarers. In July 2019, the Cyprus-flagged ship UBC Savannah left the US port of New Orleans and headed for Santa Marta and Barranquilla in Columbia. At Barranquilla, the ship loaded coking coal and began its voyage towards Altamira, Mexico. “During loading in Columbia, the police arrived and said they suspected there were narcotics on board the ship. They carried out an inspection of the whole ship but didn’t use dogs due to the dust and smell of the coal. The team leader explained that the dogs could not find anything because the odour of the coal in the hatches would override the odour of narcotics. With the anti-narcotics team present, we closed and sealed the hatches and sealed the compartments not in use. We left Columbia after having followed all the rules and procedures required.” The UBC Savannah arrived in Altamira, Mexico on 19 July 2019 with 16,000 tons of coking coal on board. It berthed on 22 July and presented the two searches from Columbia, after which the seals were broken in the presence of customs officials. During offloading, the ship’s crew found suspicious bags which, as required, were reported by Captain Lasota. The bags were seized by the navy and found to contain over 200kg of cocaine. “On the last night of discharging, in the evening, around midnight, I woke up and was surprised to find that we had not finished offloading yet. I went to see what was going on and was told that something was wrong