A Royal Navy ship patrols the North Atlantic for several months every year, working with the US Coastguard to look for drug smugglers. Suspect ships are boarded and searched, and if drugs are found, they are seized and destroyed and the smugglers dealt with through the US legal process.
Counter Narcotics
Stopping the scourge of drugs reach UK shores – or any shores for that matter – has become a key mission for the Royal Navy, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and Fleet Air Arm in recent years.
Much of that effort is focused on the Caribbean with a destroyer, frigate, or RFA guardship, working hand-in-hand with the US Coast Guard to intercept drug-runners; a specially-trained team of US Coast Guard officers – a Law Enforcement Detachment – carries out the act of boarding.
The traffickers typically use ‘go fasts’ – speedboats packed with petrol and drugs – hoping to outrun the authorities or else try to hide their evil cargo in tugs and fishing boats.
In addition to the counter-narcotics effort in the West Indies, Royal Navy warships are committed on the ‘Hashish Highway’ – a sea-lane in the western Indian Ocean off the Pakistani coast commonly known as the Hashish Highway.
It’s estimated that 90 per cent of the heroin from Afghanistan which reaches the UK travels on this route.
LATEST NEWS
TOP STORIES
Weekend Proved Busy for Royal Navy Rescue Operations
22 May 2012As well as providing more than 600 personnel to parade...
Enterprise pities the fool who doesn’t donate to charity
22 May 2012Returning to the UK following a 5-month South Atlantic deployment,...
£350M Contracts for Design of Future Nuclear Deterrent Submarines
22 May 2012The MoD has awarded contracts worth £350 million to UK...
New national Falklands memorial unveiled
22 May 2012A new national Falklands memorial was unveiled at the National...
Current Jobs
Royal Marines Other Ranks
Highly motivated, self sustained and versatile, the Royal Marines with their coveted green beret are the Royal Navy's amphibious infantry. They are one of the world's most respected military units, with a set of attitudes and abilities you won't find...
More info
Warfare Officer
As a Warfare Officer, the outcome of the mission and the safety of your ship and crew will be in your hands. As well as being a decisive leader, you’ll be a skilled seaman and navigator, able to handle your...
More info
Weapon Engineering Officer
Leading a multi-disciplinary team of skilled technicians and using your broad understanding of system engineering, you will experience the thrill and challenge of being a key player in the team responsible for bringing together the fighting capability of the ship....
More info
