A Royal Navy warship seized more than £10m of narcotics and assisted a merchant vessel in three separate incidents in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf. Over the weekend, HMS Lancaster carried out searches on two suspect boats in the space of 12 hours and also worked closely with the US Navy to support a merchant vessel reporting harassment.
The Type 23 frigate captured more than seven tons of hashish, heroin and methamphetamine across two operations in the Indian Ocean while on a security patrol of the region where she is deployed on a long-term mission. In the first call as part of a dawn mission, the ship’s specialist Royal Marines boarding team found 3.5 tons of narcotics after tracking down a suspect vessel since the early hours of the morning.
That evening, the ship’s Wildcat helicopter spotted another craft and the boarding team sprang into action once more to seize a further 3.7 tons and complete the impressive double haul. These latest captures come after Lancaster seized hashish worth £2.5m last month.
