Royal Navy ship seizes 1,000kg of heroin in latest drugs bust in the Arabian Sea
HMS Lancaster seized 1,000kg of heroin, 660kg of hashish, and 6kg of amphetamine (Picture: Combined Maritime Forces)
A Royal Navy ship has seized more than £26m of illicit drugs from a vessel in the Arabian Sea in her second raid in three months.
HMS Lancaster was working in direct support of the New Zealand-led Combined Task Force (CTF) 150 of Combined Maritime Forces (CMF).
The vessel’s crew seized 1,000kg of heroin, 660kg of hashish, and 6kg of amphetamine while patrolling the North Arabian Sea.
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“This is another example of where Lancaster has delivered at range, in isolation, utilising her own organic assets,” HMS Lancaster’s Commanding Officer, Commander Chris Chew, said.
The Type 23 frigate found and tracked a suspicious vessel using an uncrewed aerial system, and then the ship’s boarding team went to investigate.
The Royal Marine boarding teams on two boats approached the vessel as a WT2 Wildcat helicopter with a Royal Marine sniper team watched over the seizure.
On board the red ship, the team recovered several packages of illicit substances.
After that, the packages were handed to the ship to test to verify the contents and were subsequently disposed of.
“Whether they come in the form of her Wildcat, uncrewed air system, embarked intelligence team or her Royal Marine boarding team, [they delivered] on operations in support of the Combined Maritime Forces construct and New Zealand-led CTF 150,” Cdr Chew added.
The CTF’s commander, Royal New Zealand Navy Cdr Rodger Ward, said the intercept demonstrated teamwork, required tight coordination, “from the men and women here in headquarters in Bahrain reaching through to those out on the oceans disrupting drug smuggling operations at the coal face”.
“I’d like to acknowledge the 210-strong ship’s company from HMS Lancaster for continuing to get amongst it day after day,” he said.
“Everyone in the team can be proud of their efforts to disrupt the criminal and terrorist organisations that continue to use illicit narcotics to fund their activities.
“This is a significant blow to their revenue stream.”
He added: “This successful interdiction is tantamount to the tenacity, training and professionalism from our Royal Navy partners.”
The Royal Navy’s Duke-class frigate is currently deployed to the Middle East region to provide regional maritime security and stability.
The CMF, which is the world’s largest naval partnership, has five combined task forces.
CTF 150’s aim is to disrupt the ability of non-state actors to move weapons, drugs and other illicit substances in the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, and the Gulf of Oman.
Meanwhile, the CMF is a 46-nation naval partnership upholding the international rules-based order by promoting security and stability in some of the world’s most important shipping lanes.