Team Blitz India
LONDON: Royal Navy warship HMS Lancaster seized drugs with a street value of nearly £33m striking twice against traffickers in West Asia within 24 hours, according to a statement from the Ministry of Defence.
“The fantastic achievements of the crew of HMS Lancaster and Royal Marine commandos in the Indian Ocean show the important role our Navy plays policing the oceans. Their relentless efforts and professionalism have dealt another decisive blow to criminal networks,” stated Defence Secretary Grant Shapps.
This comes just weeks after HMS Trent struck a blow to Caribbean traffickers by seizing £17 million of illegal narcotics. Heroin, hashish and crystal meth were found by HMS Lancaster’s sailors and Royal Marines – with more than two tonne of the illegal drugs now having been destroyed.
Incidentally, HMS Lancaster was on its first day of security patrol following a period of training as part of the Canadian-led Combined Task Force 150, aimed to stop criminal activity across more than million square miles of ocean in West Asia.
During the security patrol, the ship’s Wildcat helicopter spotted a suspect vessel during a routine sortie. In an operation lasting eight hours, Royal Marines from 42 Commando secured the vessel, allowing Lancaster’s sailors to board the vessel. Following an in-depth search, the team recovered nearly 100 packages containing heroin and crystal meth.
Shortly after this success, the ship’s Wildcat helicopter – from 815 Naval Air Squadron – launched a dusk patrol for another sweep of the Indian Ocean.
Once again it came across a suspicious vessel, with the ship tracking her throughout the night, before commandos boarded in the morning and secured the dhow before sailors joined them to conduct another search. This time, over six hours, they recovered 2.4 tonne of hashish – bringing the total haul to 3.7 tonne of illegal drugs seized.
Collectively, the tally from the two drugs hauls had a street value of just under £33m according to the National Cr
