Portsmouth warship seizes nearly £300m of drugs in Caribbean
HMS Trent chased down smugglers
A Portsmouth-based Royal Navy warship seized almost £300m cocaine and narcotics in two huge blows to drug runners in the Caribbean.
British sailors, Royal Marines and a US Coast Guard team on HMS Trent intercepted a suspected smuggling speedboat south of the US Virgin Islands.
The smugglers began jettisoning their illegal cargo as they fled towards land, but 94 bales of class-a narcotics, weighing 2,757 kilograms were recovered.
This was HMS Trent’s second drugs bust in the space of three weeks, having seized £70.1m of cocaine in a separate operation in January.
A marine, of Plymouth-based 47 Commando, who cannot be named for operational reasons, was driving one of the pursuing sea boats.
"This was a challenging operation and required us to push the boats to their limit.
"Despite their best efforts to evade us and with our boats and the ship bearing down on them at speed, the 38ft go-fast finally gave up the chase and we were able to get alongside.
A US Maritime Patrol Aircraft circled overhead assisting the operation as Trent closed in after acting on intelligence reports.
The officer in charge of the USCG team, who cannot be named for operational reasons, said: "The size of this bust is rarely seen in the region, and it is one of the largest single seizures in recent memory.
"Being able to recover such a large cargo of contraband over a 24-mile search area is unheard of and speaks to the level of skill the crew of HMS Trent has demonstrated."
Commanding Officer, Commander Tim Langford, added: "The achievements of this ship and her crew in the last nine months have been spectacular, and it is brilliant to see the hard work and dedication of this amazing team paying off."