Double Drugs Bust: £75m Of Narcotics Seized In The Gulf

This is HMS Dragons third and fourth drug bust in the last 3 months (Picture: Royal Navy).

HMS Dragon has seized and destroyed ten tonnes of drugs worth more than £75 million.

It is one of the most significant drugs busts in the Gulf this years.

The Type 45 destroyer intercepted two boats carrying illicit drugs on the route known as the 'Hash Highway'.

This haul marks the third and fourth for the Portsmouth based ship in the space of a month.

The amount of drugs seized in total equals 13.3 tonnes.

Dragons sailors and Royal Marines launched fast boats to stop the two vessels in two separate missions over two days.

After searching the boats, they removed more hundreds of sacks full of narcotics with a street value of over £75million.

Lieutenant Laurie Williams, the Boarding Officer on board HMS Dragon, spoke to Forces News:

Royal Navy Lieutenant Jonathan Bennett was part of both of the raids: “To achieve two major drugs busts in under 48 hours is a massive achievement for the team.

“Our Royal Navy and Royal Marines boarding teams worked long hours in very challenging seas to remove nearly 10,000kg of narcotics.

“During the second boarding, the sea deteriorated resulting in increasingly hazardous conditions for our searchers. 

“We had to endure heavy seas, large amounts of ship movement and a dangerous working environment, all while removing over 300 heavy bags of narcotics and transporting them back to Dragon successfully.”

Conditions at seas were getting increasingly worse so HMS Dragon deployed her Wildcat helicopter to aid the boarding teams’ work.

It allowed them to return the drugs back to ship quickly, with their work complete before midnight.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said: “Seizing four hauls of this magnitude is a remarkable achievement and represents a significant dent in the pockets of criminals who seek to put these drugs onto our streets.

"The global narcotics network is a scourge that we are absolutely committed to tackling, as part of our commitment to security in the Gulf and across the world.”

HMS Dragon and the crew will remain on operations throughout the during the Christmas period.