Parents of Thane seaman detained in Greece run from pillar to post to free son

It has been seven months of despair and frustration for the parents of 22-year-old Kalpesh Shinde, a seaman detained in Greece for alleged arms smuggling.

The youth from Thane, along with other crew members, were detained by the Greece coast guard on August 29, 2015, after their ship Haddad 1 was intercepted for allegedly smuggling 5,000 rifles and 500,000 cartridges into Libya, which have a strong Islamic State presence.

Shinde's mother, Pallavi Rajendra Shinde (44), who lives with her husband Rajendra Shinde (49), in a small one-room-kitchen flat in Thane, has been waiting for the last seven months for her only son.

"He always wanted to be in merchant navy and we enrolled him in an academy paying around Rs 2.5 lakh," said Pallavi, with tears in her eyes. "But look where his dream job has landed him. We can only hope and follow up with authorities to get our son back," she said.

Shinde flew from Mumbai on June 6, 2015, to Turkey, and, from there, to Cyprus to join Haddad 1, a cargo ship, as a seaman. However, things changed for the Shinde family when, on August 29, Haddad 1, which was sailing from Turkey to Libya's western port Misrata via Greece, was intercepted off Crete Islands.

According to reports, Haddad 1, which was to carry household items, was loaded with a huge cache of arms and ammunition. This included 5,000 rifles, 500,000 cartridges and 4,900 cartons of cigarettes.

The Greece Coast Guard detained the crew members of Haddad 1, which included two Indians. Greek authorities could not ascertain where the illicit cargo was loaded. However, it is believed that it was put on board at Iskenderun, in southern Turkey, 50 km away from Syria.

"After 15 days, Kalpesh called us and told us that he has been arrested in Greece. He told us that the police found a lot of weapons aboard the ship," said a worried Rajendra.

"I asked my son whether he was aware of the arms, and he said he had no clue about the cargo. He also told us that he is very scared". The Shinde family started running from pillar to post to free their son who is behind bars in a foreign land.

"We approached Corporate Maritime Services Private Ltd, which sent our son on Haddad 1. The owners were very cooperative and have been backing us", said Pallavi. "We had also tweeted to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and have written to the ministry," she said.

Dhananjay Singh, one of the directors of Corporate Maritime Services, said: "It's very unfortunate and we are doing everything to get the boy back. We have been following up with the Seafarers Association as the boy is clearly a victim. As a seaman, he would not be aware of what was in the container," he said.

Singh said that the company had sent a crew of seven – a captain, second engineer, cook, one able seaman, oiler and third engineer (who is currently detained in Greece with Shinde) and Shinde (seaman). An able seaman is one who has sailed at least once or twice earlier.

According to Singh, Haddad 1 was intercepted earlier too in Libya. Since he sensed something amiss, he asked his crew to get off the ship. "The captain has been with us for the last five years. When Haddad 1 was first intercepted, our local agent managed to get the crew and the ship out of Libya, but the cargo was seized," said Singh.

"When my captain reached Egypt, he called me and told me that some suspicious cargo was on board the ship, which was seized in Libya. I told them to leave the ship and come back," he said.

According to Singh, out of the seven crew members, five disembarked in Egypt. Shinde and Jignesh remained on board. "We informed the placement agency which had sent Shinde to us to get him back. The agency said it had asked Shinde to leave the ship, but he chose to to work for Haddad 1," said Singh.

"After my crew got off Haddad 1 in Egypt, some cargo was loaded there. From there, she sailed to Turkey and loaded another set of Cargo to travel to Libya via Greece. In Greece, the ship was intercepted".

Singh said that he had learnt that both Shinde and Jignesh wanted to disembark at Turkey, but were convinced by the owner to do one last trip. It was then that they were arrested.