British warship in £15m drugs bust in Middle East

Type 23 Frigate HMS Montrose delivered her fifth blow to drug runners in the Middle East this year, say the Royal Navy.

Her team of sailors and Royal Marines seized around 870kg of crystal methamphetamine from a dhow in the Arabian Sea during a six-hour operation.

“The haul was brought back to the frigate for inspection and weighing. The drugs totalled 870kg when counted, worth around £15.5m wholesale value in the UK according to the National Crime Agency.

It’s the fifth drugs interdiction of the year by the ship while operating under the international Combined Task Force 150 and means Montrose has prevented nearly £47m illegal narcotics reaching the streets in 2022, denying the proceeds to criminals or terrorists.

The frigate, which has been deployed to the Middle East since the beginning of 2019, also seized two illegal arms shipments earlier this year – all of which underscores the importance of maintaining a major Royal Navy warship in the region on a long-term mission.”

Commander Claire Thompson, the frigate’s Commanding Officer, was quoted as saying:

“This success proves we will persistently deny criminals the freedom to conduct their illegal activity on the High Seas. Disrupting terrorist organisations, criminals and their funding lines is key to keeping to UK, and rest of the world, safe. It is a privilege to command HMS Montrose and the incredibly professional, highly-trained and dedicated personnel that I have on my team. I could not be prouder of each and every one of them.”

The frigate is one of numerous international warships attached to Saudi-led Combined Task Force 150, itself part of the wider naval security mission from Suez to the Seychelles and western seaboard of the Indian sub-continent directed from Bahrain by the Combined Maritime Forces, a partnership of 38 nations committed to “safety, security and the free passage of trade on the key sea lanes in the Middle East.”