HMS Lancaster seizes 3.2 tonnes of hashish in the Arabian Sea
The Royal Navy frigate HMS Lancaster stopped a suspect vessel in the Arabian Sea on 8 May 2023 and seized about 3.2 tonnes of hashish, valued at £2.5 million on the UK wholesale market. Royal Marines found nearly 200 packages aboard and the drugs were later destroyed; the reports do not say whether anyone was detained.
The Royal Navy frigate HMS Lancaster boarded a suspicious vessel in the Arabian
Sea at last light and seized3.2 tonnes of hashish, which the navy calls
cannabis resin.[1]The boarding took place at last light on Monday 8 May 2023,
days after the ship helped evacuate civilians through Port Sudan.[2]
Led by the ship’s Royal Marines detachment from 42 Commando, the boarding party
found packages on the deck and, with a team of sailors, recovered nearly 200
packages weighing around 11 kg each.[2]The search found almost 200 packages,
each containing around 11 kg of cannabis resin, for a total of 3.22 tonnes.[3]The haul was transferred to the warship during the night and the drugs were
later destroyed.[3]
The Royal Navy put the drugs’ value at £2.5 million on the UK wholesale market.[1]The task force’s own public statement recorded the seizure on 8 May, put
the weight at 3,000 kg and the value at US$6 million, and did not say whether
anyone on the vessel was detained.[4]
The Lancaster was serving with Combined Task Force 150, a multinational naval
force based in Bahrain that the Royal Navy commanded from January to July 2023.[1]It was the ship’s first drugs seizure since it arrived in the Middle East
the previous autumn to replace HMS Montrose.[2]
Photos and video
HMS Lancaster's sailors and Royal Marines pose with the haul of hashish. Photo: courtesy of the Royal Navy.Photo details
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