A Royal Navy warship seized cocaine with a street value of more than £40 million during a patrol in the Caribbean.
This was the sixth raid by HMS Trent in 2024, capturing around seven tonnes of the drug worth £551.5 million.
Commander Tim Langford described the August 8th raid as “another significant haul”.
The British battleship HMS Trent was alerted to a speedboat suspected of smuggling cocaine about 120 nautical miles south of the Dominican Republic.
With a US maritime patrol aircraft flying overhead, a Portsmouth-based warship approached the vessel, sending Royal Marines and the US Coast Guard on board to intercept the vessel.
Smugglers were seen throwing sealed packages overboard to prevent them falling into the hands of authorities.
Around 506kg of Class A drugs were seized and three suspected smugglers were handed over to US authorities for prosecution.
Commander Langford praised the “successful operation with our American partners”, adding that “everyone in my team can be proud of our sixth significant harvest this year”.
Foreign Secretary Pollard said “this operation highlights the vital role of the Royal Navy in maintaining maritime security in the region and upholding international law”, adding: “We are sending a clear message to drug traffickers that nowhere is safe”. “
The Royal Navy USS Trent, working closely with the US Coast Guard and Joint Interagency Task Force (South), seized 6,995 kg of narcotics in 2024.”
The ship is still patrolling Caribbean waters.
The Royal Navy said the aim was to ensure a strong presence in the British Overseas Territory during hurricane season (June to November) and to stem the flow of illicit cargo through the region.