British Royal Navy warship, the HMS Lancaster, is on a mission in the region to help fight the illicit drug trade and has already reaped success on the high seas.
HMS Lancaster’s commanding officer, Steve Moorehouse, said the more than 100-member crew successfully nabbed two vessels in the eastern Caribbean waters carrying “a sizeable amount” of marijuana, cocaine and heroin, last month.
“We just recently finished our first patrol and it’s been a successful patrol. We’ve had a couple of interceptions and it just shows the value of having ships on the high seas policing them,” Moorehouse noted.
He said eight persons were taken into custody but was reluctant to divulge any more specifics about the seizure, as the investigations are ongoing.
“It was just routine business so intelligence came into the ship and we responded to it. One happened to be a yacht in the Caribbean and the other a go-fast boat,” he added.
He said arrests like these happen regularly as the Canadian, French and Dutch, along with regional defence forces, have been working to stop the trafficking of drugs through the Caribbean Sea.
Moorehouse indicated that the warship’s duty in the region would continue for the rest of the year and it would be making more counter-narcotics rounds.
Speaking during a tour of the HMS Lancaster on Friday at the Kingston Container Terminal, Moorehouse said the ship would be sailing from Jamaica later today and would be keeping its focus on arresting the drug trade.
He noted that the voyage was taking place in tandem with the United States Coastguard and they were given specific assignments from a joint team in Miami, Florida, that includes law enforcers from the region, which is tasked with the gathering of intelligence.