The operation was part of the Combined Maritime Forces’ (CMF) Operation Sea Shield and was an international effort involving several of the CMF’s 33 member nations and partners, say the Royal Navy.
The drugs have a value of around £18 million.
“In rough seas, and aided by the ship’s Wildcat helicopter, sailors and Royal Marines conducted the boarding of the suspicious vessel, and during an extensive search discovered the 450kg haul hidden amongst the boat’s cargo.
Intercepting and boarding suspicious vessels at sea is a skilled operation, made more challenging by the threat of COVID. The ship’s medical team was responsible for de-contaminating all personnel and equipment, and specialist PPE was used throughout the boarding process.”
Commanding Officer of HMS Montrose Commander Charles Collins said:
“Every sailor and marine, airman and woman, alongside our international partners, should be proud to have contributed to the success of this operation which has undoubtedly kept millions of pounds of drugs off our streets.”
With four Mine Countermeasure Vessels, a forward deployed Type 23 Frigate and a Royal Fleet Auxiliary support ship permanently deployed in the Middle East, the MoD say that the UK remains committed to “keeping the region’s critical sea lanes free from illegal activity in order to maintain maritime security”.
I’m not sure “score” is quite the term to use, unless your being a bit ironic……..
No wonder the Navy ranks are being filled!
Yes come join up we have bulk “scoring” of speed for all your party needs.
Could be one way to cover the navies costs without further cuts, £18m would pay for the vessels running costs for a while.
It was after all a naval tradition to ensure sailors were just the right level of pissed to work and cope with the reality of life onboard. 21C take on a 18-19C tradition.
Isnt ‘ scoring ‘ a term suggesting HMS Montrose has just ingested all those drugs? party ship in that case!
What drugs? The boxes were empty when they found them…
Having worked on a seismic vessel where the gun mechanics regularly took speed, the adoption of it by the RN doesn’t surprise me. Got to keep up with the times chaps!
unfortunately speed is used by people everywhere who need more hours in the day or a bit more edge. it unfortunately always ends in the same way ( physical and phycological collapse). It’s not a very clean drug from a pharmacologist footprint and does awfully nasty things to mind and body. Quite frankly if your going down the road of class A hard drug use you’re better of sticking to heroine, as although you will end up losing your job and the delivery methods and poor quality control can be a life threatening problem the drug itself has a generally… Read more »