A Royal Navy warship has intercepted a so-called “narco-sub”, seizing cocaine with a street value of £160m.
HMS Trent discovered the vessel 190 nautical miles south of the Dominican Republic while working alongside the US Coast Guard and a US maritime patrol aircraft.
The navy said 2,000kg of cocaine was seized on 26 August as it was being trafficked across the Caribbean Sea, bringing HMS Trent’s haul of narcotics during eight “drugs busts” in seven months of operations to nearly £750m.
It is the first time a Royal Navy warship has intercepted a narco-submarine.
Two people were detained and 12 bales of cocaine seized after a “high-speed night-time pursuit”.
The semi-submersible vessels are used by drug smugglers and sit low in the water to evade detection. Some are even fully-submersible.
A Royal Navy spokesman said the drugs bust, which involved Royal Marines from 47 Commando and specialist sailors, came just 72 hours after Trent’s last successful 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 suspects and 12 bales of drugs seized, ready to be handed over to US authorities,” the statement said.
Portsmouth-based HMS Trent has now seized 9,459kg of drugs during its operations, beating HMS Argyll as the best hunter of smugglers in the Royal Navy this century.
The ship’s commanding officer Commander Tim Langford said “this latest seizure reinforces the utility of the Royal Navy’s offshore patrol vessels”, adding the semi-submersible was “rarely seen in the Caribbean”.
HMS Trent. Pic: MOD/PA
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HMS Trent, which has 50 specialists in disaster relief operations on board, will now continue patrols in the Caribbean to support British Overseas Territories during hurricane season.
A spokesman for the Royal Navy said: “These successful interceptions disrupt transnational criminal organisations (TCO) and underscore the Royal Navy’s vital role in maintaining maritime security and upholding international law both at home and abroad.
“This role is more important than ever with the flow of drugs to Europe and the UK, where an estimated 117 tonnes is consumed per year, grows significantly.”
The ship recently also visited the British Virgin Islands, making repairs on the island of Tortola, after Tropical Storm Ernesto passed through the region.