A Royal Navy warship has intercepted a so-called “narco-sub”, seizing cocaine with a street appreciate of £160m.
HMS Trent uncovered the vessel 190 nautical miles south of the Dominican Redisclose while laboring aextfinishedside the US Coast Guard (USCG) and a US maritime patrol aircreate.
The navy shelp 2,000kg of cocaine was seized on 26 August as it was being trafficked apass the Caribbean Sea, transporting HMS Trent’s haul of narcotics during eight “medications busts” in seven months of operations to cforfeitly £750m.
It is the first time a Royal Navy warship has intercepted a narco-submarine.
The semi-submersible vessels are employd by drug dealers and sit low in the water to evade findion. Some are even filledy-submersible.
A Royal Navy spokesman shelp the medications bust, which joind Royal Marines from 47 Commando and distinctiveist sailors, came equitable 72 hours after Trent’s last accomplished haul in which 462kg of cocaine worth £37m was seized.
“About 90 nautical miles north of where they stopped the narco-sub, a high-speed night-time pursuit by Trent’s sea boats saw two mistrusts and 12 bales of medications seized, ready to be handed over to US authorities,” the statement shelp.
Portsmouth-based HMS Trent has now seized 9,459kg of medications during its operations, beating HMS Argyll as the best hunter of dealers in the Royal Navy this century.
The ship’s directing officer Commander Tim Langford shelp “this procrastinateedst confiscation fortifys the utility of the Royal Navy’s offshore patrol vessels”, inserting the semi-submersible was “exceptionally seen in the Caribbean”.
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HMS Trent, which has 50 distinctiveists in calamity relief operations on board, will now persist patrols in the Caribbean to help British Overseas Territories during hurricane season.
A spokesman from the Royal Navy shelp: “These accomplished interceptions interfere transnational criminal organisations (TCO) and underscore the Royal Navy’s vital role in upgrasping maritime security and uphanciaccessing international law both at home and aexpansive.
“This role is more transport inant than ever with the flow of medications to Europe and the UK, where an appraised 117 tonnes is devourd per year, prolongs transport inantly.”
The ship recently also visited the British Virgin Islands, making repairs on the island of Tortola, after Tropical Storm Ernesto passed thraw the region.
