Australian and Pakistani frigates seize 1,951 kg of hashish off Oman
HMAS Melbourne and PNS Alamgir, operating under Combined Maritime Forces task force CTF-150, boarded a dhow east of Masirah Island, Oman on 13 February 2014 and seized 1,951 kg of cannabis resin hidden in its fishing hold, estimated to be worth about A$113 million.
🇦🇺 East of Masirah Island, Oman · Australia
Cannabis
1.951 t
Value (official estimate)
AUD 113,000,000
The Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Melbourne and the Pakistani frigate PNS Alamgir, both deployed under tasking to the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), jointly intercepted a suspect dhow east of Masirah Island, Oman.[1][2]The Pakistani ship detected the dhow early on 12 February 2014, and the Australian boarding team embarked it the following day.[1]
The boarding team found 62 bags holding almost 4,000 bricks of suspected cannabis resin, amounting to 1,951 kilograms, stacked in a hidden compartment within the vessel’s fishing hold.[1][2]The two navies seized and destroyed the haul, which they estimated had a street value of about A$113 million.[1]
Australia’s Commodore Daryl Bates, then commander of CMF’s Combined Task Force 150, said the operation showed how well the task force’s navies were working together against terrorism and related trafficking in the Middle East and Indian Ocean regions.[1]
Strike Force Harthouse detectives raided a rural property at Dandry in January 2022, seizing more than 19,000 cannabis plants valued at about A$66.8 million. Six people aged 23 to 42 were arrested and charged over what police called the biggest cannabis bust on the New South Wales record.
The frigate HMAS Ballarat, operating under Combined Task Force 150, boarded a dhow in the northern Arabian Sea on 8 January 2019 and seized 3,100 kg of hashish worth about A$155 million, its third drugs haul in just over two weeks.
The frigate HMAS Warramunga boarded three suspect vessels in the Arabian Sea between 27 and 29 December 2017 and seized almost eight tonnes of hashish. The Australian Defence Force called it the largest hashish seizure by an Australian ship on Middle East operations.
The frigate HMAS Darwin, working under British-led Combined Task Force 150, boarded a dhow in the Indian Ocean on 28 June 2014 and found 6,248 kg of cannabis resin hidden in its hull after a search of more than 12 hours. The haul, valued at about 18 million pounds, was the largest maritime hashish seizure in the Indian Ocean to date.
