MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

HMS Ocean double drugs catch in the Caribbean

HMS Ocean Royal Navy's largest warship

Plymouth-based helicopter carrier HMS Ocean, the Royal Navy's largest warship, has made another seizure of nearly half a ton of cocaine during its current maritime security patrol in the Atlantic and Caribbean.

This time fifteen bales of the drug, with a street value of around £29 million, were hoisted from the sea by one of the ship's Merlin helicopters after an attempt by smugglers to drop them to a waiting boat.. This is the second seizure by HMS OCEAN in the last six weeks and represents yet another significant victory in the war against drugs, which has seen the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, working with other UK and foreign agencies, seizing over £1billion worth in the last 15 months alone. Secretary of State for Defence Des Browne said: "HMS Ocean's latest operation is another impressive strike against drug trafficking. Two big drug hauls in just six weeks is a real achievement and the ship's crew deserves praise for the skill and commitment they have displayed in their anti-narcotics work on the Atlantic and Caribbean patrol. They are a credit to their service and our country." The latest success came after an intense 48 hour period of operations by HMS Ocean working closely with the US Coastguard and other law enforcement agencies in the region. Maintaining constant patrols over the region with Sea King aircraft fitted with state of the art surveillance radar, the ship has been tracking aircraft where there are indications to believe they may be attempting to smuggle cocaine out of South America. A couple of days ago two suspicious aircraft caught the Sea King's attention and the ship launched a Merlin maritime patrol helicopter of Culdrose-based 700M Squadron, to assist. The aircraft were tracked into the territorial waters of one of the Caribbean nations, where local authorities took up the trail. However, on the night of June 24 the Sea King took up the trail on another suspicious aircraft whose behavior indicated that it might be looking to drop its cargo to a boat waiting off the coast. HMS Ocean immediately launched two of its landing craft, crewed by Royal Marines of 9 Assault Squadron, which dashed ahead of the ship to the site of the likely drop. A Merlin also took off to join in the chase, equipped with a Maritime sniper team, skilled at disabling small boats' engines. The Merlin observed the suspect aircraft drop bales into the water, which were picked up by a waiting boat, and dived lower for a closer look. Alarmed by the sudden appearance of the helicopter, the boat's crew threw the bales into the sea and headed straight for the coast. The Merlin set about collecting the bales, soon to be joined by the Royal Marines' landing craft, and a local coast guard craft. In the dark ten bales were recovered (six by HMS Ocean) and a further search of the area at first light by Merlin yielded another five. The total of 15 bales amounted to about 485 Kg worth some £29 million at UK street value prices. Commanding Officer, Captain Russ Harding said "I am delighted that all our efforts recently in accurately tracking suspect aircraft into other states, where the chase is handed over to the local authorities, has also borne fruit with the foiling of this attempted air to sea drop. This second drug seizure by OCEAN is solid evidence of the success of the ship's ability to interdict the air smuggling route from South America using the powerful combination of my Merlin and Sea King aircraft, backed up by the Royal Marine assault squadron. Our success today is testament to the effectiveness of the joined-up multinational approach to combating the drugs trade in the Caribbean. He went on to add, "We look forward to staying on patrol in the region to continue to disrupt this trade, carrying out vital maritime security work which remains a high priority for our Government and the Royal Navy."