A Royal Navy warship has seized narcotics price $370 million in a sequence of busts within the Caribbean, with assist from the U.S. Coast Guard. 

In the primary intercept, HMS Trent noticed a smuggling speedboat to the south of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the ship gave chase. The smugglers tried to flee in direction of land, they usually threw 20 bales of their illicit cargo over the aspect. The boat in the end ran aground, and the suspects had been detained by officers within the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

Between the restoration of bales within the water and the cargo nonetheless on board the grounded boat, the group captured 94 bales of medicine. This 2,800-kilo haul was valued at $280 million, in line with British officers. 

Image courtesy of the Royal Navy

Three weeks earlier, Trent’s crew intercepted a bunch of smugglers in a nighttime pursuit. The 4 suspects tried to throw their unlawful cargo over the aspect, however they had been caught within the act by an embarked Coast Guard boarding group. Trent’s coxswains pushed their boats “to the limits” to run down the smuggling vessel and allow the boarding. Aided by dawn, Trent’s crew searched close by waters and recovered 29 bales of cocaine. The 880-kilo haul was price one other $90 million. 

“The size of this bust is rarely seen in the region, and it is one of the largest single seizures in recent memory,” said the officer in charge of the Coast Guard boarding team (unnamed for operational reasons). “Being able to recover such a large cargo of contraband over a 24-mile search area is unheard of.”