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LONDON: A Royal Navy warship has seized cannabis worth £1 million after the drug packages were dumped by smugglers in the Mediterranean.
HMS St Albans, a Type 23 frigate based at Portsmouth, was carrying out a routine security patrol when it discovered the traffickers travelling in a small boat.
A Royal Navy spokesman said: “HMS St Albans spotted a small boat acting suspiciously and so launched her Merlin helicopter, this spooked the small boat crew who then tossed several large packages into the water before speeding off into the dusk.
“The frigate then sent one of her sea boats to investigate the packages which later turned out to be approximately 320kg of cannabis resin.”
The drugs find is the second bust carried put by the Royal Navy in the area in the past two weeks as HMS Richmond also recovered 1,015kg of cannabis worth £3 million.
Lieutenant Commander Jeff Gulliver, St Albans’ second in command, said: “The Mediterranean is a well-known smuggling route for drugs into Europe and the UK.
“The team have trained long and hard at home for tasks such as this. Having only just deployed from UK last Monday, it is great for them to prove themselves so soon.
“I‘m proud of my sailors for reacting so quickly and helping to keep these drugs off the streets.”
Armed Forces Minister Penny Mordaunt said: “After just two weeks on operations HMS St Albans is already having a tangible effect in ensuring the security of the UK by keeping these illicit drugs off our streets.
“I wish her crew fair winds and following seas for the remainder of their deployment.”
St Albans is on a nine month deployment, protecting UK interests worldwide and will return to Portsmouth next summer.
