On 15 April 2026 the French navy frigate Floréal intercepted two vessels in the exclusive economic zone of Tromelin, an islet in the Indian Ocean, in an operation named Baldor.[1] The operation was coordinated by the authorities of Réunion, Mauritius and the Seychelles and seized a drug cargo estimated by French reporting at more than 64 million euros.[1] Aboard the suspect ship were ten crew members of different nationalities: four Pakistanis, three Tanzanians, two Ethiopians and one Iranian.[1] The search of the vessel turned up 121 kg of cocaine, 108 kg of heroin and 42 kg of cannabis.[1] The seizure was carried out by the Réunion gendarmerie, which also arrested the crew members.[1] French reporting put the cannabis alone at about one million euros, with the cocaine at 33 million and the heroin at nearly 30 million.[1] According to the first findings of the investigation, the drugs came from Afghanistan and were destined for the Mauritian market.[1] Le marin reported that the Floréal took part in the joint Réunion–Mauritius–Seychelles operation, which led to the seizure of more than 270 kg of drugs near Tromelin.[2] Mauritian outlet lexpress.mu reported that the Afghan-origin drugs were bound for Mauritius and that the authorities seized 121 kg of cocaine, 108 kg of heroin and 42 kg of cannabis from a suspect vessel.[2]

Investigators identified two Mauritians, aged 35 and 33, suspected of recovering the drugs at sea and said to play a key role in the network’s local logistics.[1] On 16 April the two men were seen leaving Baie-du-Tombeau by boat for the open sea, apparently to collect part of the cargo.[1] The two men were arrested the following day and brought before the courts, and one of them was already known to the authorities from a 2024 case involving an attempt to import cannabis between Mauritius and Réunion.[1]

The Le Portail des sous-marins account, citing Zinfos974, states that the Floréal intercepted the suspect ship in Tromelin’s exclusive economic zone on 15 April and that searches found 121 kg of cocaine, 42 kg of cannabis and 108 kg of heroin.[3] The Floréal is one of the two surveillance frigates of the Réunion naval base, alongside the Nivôse.[1]