RFA Wave Knight intercepted a suspect craft as it headed across the Caribbean Sea at speed.

The Royal Navy say that the bust began when the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship launched her Wildcat helicopter – call sign Knightrider – on a routine patrol.

“Minutes later Knightrider’s crew reported a small craft with three people on board and large objects on deck. Having been ordered to stop by the helicopter’s crew, the suspected drug-runners then began tossing bales overboard.

The tanker closed in and launched her sea boat, carrying the embarked US Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment, to intercept the vessel and detain its occupants.

More than 200kg of drugs were recovered and the crew of the boat detained. They have been handed over to the US authorities. The go-fast was then destroyed to prevent it becoming a danger to other seafarers.”

Image Crown Copyright 2021.

“I am extremely proud of the professionalism and dedication of all on-board RFA Wave Knight – that includes 213 Flight, Royal Marines, Royal Navy and the US Coast Guard LEDET – which led to the seizure of these illegal drugs,” said Captain Simon Herbert RFA, Wave Knight’s Commanding Officer.

“In doing so they’ve contributed to the reassurance and protection of UK Overseas Territories, as well as keeping these narcotics off the streets of the UK.”

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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47 COMMENTS

  1. Nice picture and well done to all involved.

    Not just keeping the drugs off UK streets but also US streets. So definate shared benefits there. Also, shows the benefit of the embarked helicopter…

    Cheer CR

    • If its a GRP hull and full of foam , hitting it with close range probably wont sink it.
      The attached picture is what we did to a smuggling boat when I was on Brum on a Gulf patrol back in the late 80s. Two boxes of PE4 sticks spread around, detcord and plastic bottles of diesel on top of the PE4 sticks for that extra Hollywood flame effect.

      I loved being in the Demolitions team!

    • Morning Lusty. Now here is a fascinating subject-real values and real costs. If the RN were to go into the business of selling drugs by pirating said product from said suspect craft 17 million x a few busts could go a long way to acquire T31 number six-HMS Drugrunner!? But if we cost these enterprises properly, we have to take into account the costs of anti drug policing,medical expenses in treating druggies for their habit and associated conditions, crimes commited by addicts desperate for a fix etc.. Even disposing of the product has its not inconsiderable cost-dumping overboard is not a good option-lots of stoned sea life etc.-come to think of it how do the RN dispose of cocaine or the like?
      So in summary, the drugs are worth nothing😆 and I know you speak in jest and I am being a pain in the butt trying to find something intelligent to say while drinking my coffee at 5 on a Saturday morning. Hope you are well my friend. Cheers from Durban

      • It is indeed a fascinating subject, but I speak in jest of course. 😀 The costs are one thing, but the RN has to be seen as the ‘better’ party in this. Profiting off doing some good in the world isn’t the way to go. But that’s true for whatever the RN does, be it humanitarian, SAR, following Covid rules etc. We need to be seen as the better party, so to speak.

        I should imagine the drugs are taken away and incinerated. It’s a shame the boat wasn’t recovered, though doing so would have been a logistical nightmare. I’m not really a fan of creating yet more pollution in the sea, but that’s just me.

        Hope all is well down there. 🙂

        • Thanks Lusty. On the same page as you and long may Her Majesty’s Royal Navy be a force for good in the world!
          Cheers from a sunny Durban-rising to 31 degrees today!!(Hi Daniele😉)

  5. The war on drugs will never end! We will see long range stealth drone soon enough. Canabis should be legalised and regulated, cocaine and heroin should be decriminalised and might help the massive court system backlog and actually help the addiction crisis..

      • I see both of your arguments.. Legalising drugs basically destroys the criminal network profiting from the misery of others. The key question though is-would this increase the numbers using hard drugs? The fact that is illegal might ironically add to the allure for impressionable young people, and for those hooked on these substances,the fact it is illegal does nothing to stop them wanting and getting their fix. Education and Draconian policing a-la Philipines President are the keys to reducing the scourge,unlikely bedfellows as they are!!

        • The law is ok. The policing needs to (continue to ) be intense. Drugs which depress the sense of conscience and responsibility are harmful for the individual and others.
          More thought and effort needs to be put into how you deal with offenders. Users need to understand that they are victims; slap on the wrist but then be taught and given help to help themselves. Dealers should be placed in the stocks and then sent to work on a chain gang. They need to be publicly humiliated for the crime of exploiting and abusing others especially when the victims are young people.

          • You say the law is ok, it’s not I’ve been in that world. It’s failed for 40 years. Rough areas are controlled by drug gangs, thousands are pushed into addiction and all the law does is put them in prison. USA especially shows the war on drugs is totally lost and needs rethinking. Dealers should be given life on second offence. Users forced into proper drug treatment.

          • By the law I meant that it is right to have legislation which criminalises drug use and dealing and the principle of matching the seriousness of the offence to the effect of the drug is sound. I agree we need to change sentencing, education and rehabilitation. We need some new ideas.
            The US has issues with its system which sadly we seem to be in danger of emulating. What the US has done is to heavily penalise failure to pay fines and send people to privatised prisons. So there is money to be made by fining and further criminalising offenders. The criminal justice system is an industry which is growing. The poor can quickly end up in the prison system for quite minor offences. As they say, the business of America is business.

        • Actually figures from countries that decriminalise hard drugs ( supplied by chemists after 30 dat wait period to stop party goers) show that users of hard drugs initially go up then drop every year since. This is more hidden users admitting it, then after taking it away from pushers it breaks the cycle.

      • The addiction aspect is impossible to fully eradicate, some people are just predisposed to prediction. If its not drugs then it will be something else. Drugs that are legalised (as per my other post I’m uncomfortable with legalising ALL drugs as it sends a message but that’s a bit illogical when you break it down) are regulated and taxed (which could go towards drug ‘issues’ to) could give a level of safety of product as well as removing the criminal aspect of it.

        Its not going to happen, it would be a vote loser I suspect. Meanwhile cannabis based medicinal products are still difficult to obtain it seems even though they’re legal. Just my take but I wonder if they’re tainted with the whole cannabis thing.

      • It’s how we manage tobacco and alcohol and I assure you they are as equally addictive and damaging to health as any street drug.

        • Well I agree they do cause serious health problems. But in moderation they are offset by social and economic benefits. A fellow once asked ‘ if I give up smoking, drinking and sex will I live longer’. He got the answer, ‘no, but it will seem that way’. 😂

          • To be honest it’s the same with most illegal drugs. Most of the damage is from excessive usage and addiction and the reality is most drug users are not addicted and use drugs in the same way as they use getting pissed. The problem is all he profits of illegal drugs go to pilling money in the pockets of very nasty people. I know lifetime drug users who hold down jobs, own their own home and have families.

          • I understand what you say. There are indeed lots of people who drink to excess for example or take recreational drugs hold down hi-powered jobs. My old boss used to say, you don’t know what you don’t know. You can manage this lifestyle for a time but the reality is that you are harming yourself and in particular that part of you which considers others. Even addiction to money has this effect. You see it in politics all the time.

          • “You can manage this lifestyle for a time but the reality is that you are harming yourself and in particular that part of you which considers others.”

            You don’t have to be an addict to cause yourself and others harm. Plenty morbidly obese folk around who are damaging themselves through the medium of scran, not that I’m singling them out. For starters I’d be a hypocrite, I’m no stranger to Greggs myself. 😀

            There is an element of double standards when it comes to drugs, its easy to look down on ‘druggies’, at least the stereotype while damaging ourselves in our more socially acceptable ways. Having said that, I get why it shouldn’t be a free for all and legalise ‘everything’ (yes I’m a hypocrite in that regard) as any society has to have some kind of rules.

            We’ve wandered way off the reservation with this conversation although I’m glad, its an interesting subject but the Portuguese have had success in treating drugs differently although there are cultural differences to bear in mind.

          • To be sure we have wandered off. We can all have a tendency to hypocrisy when its suits us, myself included. My current program is to try an set a limit of one drink…ha ha!
            The issue is that you can get addicted to any number of things, money, drink, sex even food. And people will exploit even these where there is money to be made by manipulating other people. The additives added to fast food for example are intended to make you crave more.
            I knew at one point that Portugal ( England’s oldest ally) were trying a new approach. Haven’t followed how things are going. As you say, different culture although they also had an Empire and a monarch, who fled to Brazil I think. Anyway they have more sunshine and more wine. Catholic country too; better at following orders.

          • “The issue is that you can get addicted to any number of things, money, drink, sex even food.”

            You don’t need to be an addict to buy into stuff though mate, I doubt anyone is addicted to holidays but it seems its now one of our basic human rights and there is an industry geared up to take advantage of that. People are lead by the nose over this as well as lots of other aspects of keeping up with the Joneses, I doubt any of us are immune at some level.

          • The whole concept of what is a morally acceptable way to harm yourself vs those that are not morally acceptable is interesting. As a professional I have to follow a very strict unconditional positive regard, in that I treat you as a human separate from if you were harmed by drugs, beer and a fight, car accident, cancer from smoking cancer from eating meat etc. We all cause harm to ourselves on one way or another be it choices in lifestyle, work or just being a bit stupid.

          • “I know lifetime drug users who hold down jobs, own their own home and have families.”

            I’m with you on that Jonathan and its influenced my take on drugs. I’ve got mates in their 40’s and 50’s who are recreational users and are much more restrained in their drug usage than I am in mine (booze). Most have good jobs (all have jobs), families and pay a mortgage etc. For most its cannabis but I know a couple who like a bit of coke on special occasions.

            Legalising something most people do kind of makes sense to me even though its not my bag. If alcohol and tobacco were discovered now, they would probably treated much more seriously, its a combination of familiarity and the loss of votes that have them treated differently.

          • That’s spot on Andy, like you I have had friends and Colleagues who were recreational drug users, they would take their party drug of choice at the weekend and then be ready to work. You would never know, but these respected professionals could have had their lives destroyed by the legal system because they chose to smoke Ganga instead of have pints down the pub.

    • I’m up for legalising (and taxing etc) cannabis and ecstasy type stuff, I’m not sure as a nation that we’re ready to legitimise the harder stuff and some of that is based on public perception (ie votes) although I get your logic.

      I say that as someone who hasn’t even tried a toke, my preferred high comes in liquid form. 🍻 😀

      • To be honest I’m not even up to getting pissed anymore, the hangover is just more than I can be bothered with ( I did read the middle age hangovers are worse that young person hang overs).

      • Yes I think a review of the impact of different drugs is needed and consideration from there.

        some drugs are bastards full stop, amphetamines for instance are brutal. But others not so.

        one of the problem is a lot of drugs of abuse are actually prescription drugs and so legal. It’s why I found the whole prescription of cannabis debate so insane. We prescribe heroin but had this ridiculous argument about the ethics of prescribing cannabis.

        we worry about heroin deaths but they are all related to accidental overdose because street product is not dosed or infections from needles.

    • The war on drugs was lost years ago. All drugs should be legalised and sold through approved, certificated outlets.

      Government can then guarantee quality AND collect taxes on the sale.

      And I’m not a drug user but know the impact thjat drugs, once cut, can have on people

  7. I’m not sure about the whole destroying the boat after bit. That’s not environmentally friendly.

    maybe give the boat to an actual family of fishermen and recycle the stupid large outboard.

    But good going on the catching the drug mules thing.

    Sad thing is it’s not actual 17million in drugs, it would have cost the drug cartel almost nothing to produce so its literally no skin of their noses.

    unfortunately there are only two ways to win the war on drugs:

    1) legalise it all and manage the impact as a public health issue ( as we do with tobacco and alcohol, which are as damaging as any illegal drug). This removes the criminal model and allows societal damage to be managed.

    2) Cut the head off the snake and simply remove cartel leaders from any governmental legal protection and undertake extra-Judicial killings unless they are captured and then the sentences should be life time or death. Simply put if you are a cartel member you are dead. I’m not talking about the mules, low level street dealers etc, but the individuals who drive the trade.

    what we are doing at present is essentially an international version of the US prohibition and that was a disaster, which is pretty much where we are with street drugs to be honest.

    • Exactly 40 years and it’s failing. I can find crack or smack in twenty mins from town centre if u open your eyes. Only thing that will work is military action with gloves off against cartels. Any user arrested should be forced into treatment but not criminalised (ie loses family and job)

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