Drugs: joint UK/USA operation at sea

Of course, anyone on board a ship needs a pair of decent waterproof boots, and wellingtons are ideal. Wellingtons are named after The Duke of Wellington (or if they are not, it's a nice myth) and the Duke of Wellington was nick-named the Iron Duke. The Royal Navy has a frigate named the Iron Duke and this week it was deployed to the ocean off Barbados to co-ordinate with the US Coastguard in an anti drugs operation.

What they found was startling.

Using intelligence supplied by the British-led Maritime Analysis and Operation Centre in Lisbon, The Iron Duke arrived in the North West Atlantic on the 24th June. On 28th June it had its first major success. An ocean-going speedboat, of a type the Americans have branded a "go-fast", was identified as a potential target. The 50-foot vessel was known to be in the area. The Navy's helicopter searched and located the boat and ordered it to stop. It appeared from its direction that it was en route to Europe or West Africa and, when searched, it was found to have 45 bales of cocaine on board - that's about 900 kilos. At UK street prices, that's worth at least GBP40 million.

The Iron Duke's primary purpose in being in the region is to provide visible support and goodwill for British Dependent Territories in the region, where drugs production and trafficking is undermining some societies. But its primary purpose is to be ready to offer emergency assistance in the event of hurricane damage and its arrival coincided with the beginning of the hurricane season.

The Navy says of its type 23 frigates "In addition to war-fighting roles, the ship is trained to conduct a wide range of other tasks. These include embargo operations using boarding teams inserted from the ship's boats or helicopter, disaster relief work and surveillance operations."

One of the difficulties facing enforcement teams investigating cocaine-running is that the drug rapidly dissolves in water. Therefore a common practice when a raid is anticipated is to break the bales and throw them overboard. This did not happen in the current case.

However, in October last year, an operation by another Type 23 frigate, HMS Portland, which also involved a co-ordinated helicopter and ship operation found more than a tonne of cocaine floating in the ocean, thrown overboard from a fishing vessel it captured.

Graphic: Royal Navy seamen from HMS Portland carrying bales of cocaine. Courtesy Royal Navy, Crown Copyright.