The dramatic moment soldiers entered the drug sub (Picture: Royal Navy / SWNS)
A Royal Navy warship has seized a ‘narco sub’ carrying £160,000,000 worth of cocaine.
Dramatic pictures show the moment soldiers boarded the drug-smuggling submarine in the Caribbean Sea.
HMS Trent has become the first Royal Navy patrol ship to intercept a drug submarine.
The ship worked with the US Coast Guard and a US maritime patrol aircraft to take over the semi-submersed vessel.
The Portsmouth-based HMS Trent has stopped almost £750,000,000 worth of cocaine (Picture: Royal Navy / SWNS)
It was travelling around 190 nautical miles south of the Dominican Republic when it was caught.
Soldiers seized 2,000kg of cocaine. Over the past seven months, HMS Trent has seized almost £750,000,000 worth of cocaine in eight operations.
The ship’s commanding officer Commander Tim Langford said: ‘It has been a busy yet rewarding eight months for Trent whilst deployed to the Caribbean and this latest seizure reinforces the utility of the Royal Navy’s offshore patrol vessels in the delivery of this vital tasking.
‘My skilled team and our embarked USCG law enforcement detachment fought challenging conditions to interdict this semi-submersible – rarely seen in the Caribbean – and were rewarded with another record haul.
The haul (Picture: Royal Navy / SWNS)
‘These operations are a team effort and require involvement from every single member of my crew irrespective of their usual role – they can be extremely proud of what they have achieved.’
Drug traffickers are increasingly resorting to narco subs to get their illicit product to the US and Europe via transit routes.
HMS Trent – carrying 50 disaster relief operations specialists on board – will continue patrols in the Caribbean to support the British Overseas Territories during the hurricane season.
Despite successful seizures, the so-called war on drugs by countries like the US and the UK has been criticised for failing to eradicate the demand for illegal drugs at home which is fuelling the violent trade.
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