A Croatian ship captain, Marko Bekavac from Split, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison in Turkey after a large quantity of cocaine was found on his ship in the port city of Eregli last October. reported Croatian media.

Bekavac is in an investigation center in Ankara, after the police in a special operation discovered 137 kilograms of cocaine on a ship sailing under the Panamanian flag and transporting coal from Colombia.

In the operation, 10 sailors were arrested - six from the Philippines, one each from Finland, Poland and Russia, as well as Bekavac, whom the Turkish authorities consider responsible for the command responsibility. In addition to the captain, the court also found the first officer of the ship guilty in the first-instance verdict, while the rest of the defendants were acquitted.

The sentence of 30 years in prison shocked the Croatian sailors, but also the public in general.