BUSTED!

The Bahrain-based Combined Maritime Forces’ (CMF) Combined Task Force (CTF) 150, has seized 539 kilogrammes of heroin worth $107 million (BD40.55 million) from a smuggling vessel, making it the largest heroin seizure in CMF history, according to the current head of CTF150.

The haul, which took place off the Somali coast, was discovered by Canadian ship HMCS Toronto, part of CTF150, while it was operating in the region.

This latest bust adds to an already impressive list of accomplishments for the force this month, which includes two separate discoveries of methamphetamine, one of which was the largest in CMF history.

Currently, heading CTF150 is Royal Australian Navy Commodore Daryl Bates, who spoke exclusively with GulfWeekly about the recent string of drug busts.

He said: “These operations are difficult. We patrol around 2.5 million square miles of sea and that’s about 90 per cent of Australia’s landmass, so it’s a little like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

“When you have a seizure of illegal drugs like this there is obviously a huge sense of satisfaction but also a sense of disappointment that things like this are still going on and large quantities of substances like this are making their way across the world. It’s a double-edged sword.

“I’m just glad we prevented this horrible substance making its way into our cities.”

HMCS Toronto intercepted and boarded the suspected smuggling vessel in the Somali Basin and discovered 506 bags of heroin weighing a total of 538.68kg hidden onboard.

The illicit narcotics were seized, samples were taken for laboratory testing and the remainder was destroyed.

In a twist of fate, the record for the largest amount of heroin discovered by a CMF unit was previously also held by HMCS Toronto, whose boarding team discovered 500kg hidden aboard a dhow off Zanzibar Island, Tanzania, in March.

“CMF, in particular, CTF150 is determined to inhibit illicit activity in the maritime environment, activity that we know funds violent extremist organisations. We expect that HMCS Toronto’s seizure, on top of the separate successful counter-narcotics operations in the last week by the Australian warship, HMAS Melbourne, will send a strong message to these terrorist-linked organisations,” Commodore Bates said.

Earlier this month, the CTF150 unit HMAS Melbourne made two separate successful interdictions of methamphetamines.
The unit first intercepted 9.8kg of it with an estimated street value of $3.9 million (BD1.48 million), the biggest successful interception of the drug in CMF history. It later seized another 8kg of the substance, worth $3.2 million (BD1.21 million).

Commodore Bates said: “It may not seem like a big weight, but it definitely has a heavy price and the funds from these drug shipments would no doubt have gone to supporting terrorism.”

Under the command of the Australian-led CTF150, which operates as part of the 29-nation CMF based in Bahrain, a US Navy P3C aircraft and HMAS Melbourne’s S-70B Seahawk helicopter both observed the suspected drug-smuggling vessel transferring a number of unidentified packages to another dhow operating in the North Arabian Sea.

The Australian Navy boarding team identified a suspicious substance while conducting a standard security sweep of one of the vessels. The material was tested on board the dhow and returned a positive reading for an amphetamine-based substance.
 
CTF150 staff also directed the Royal Australian Navy’s Guided Missile Frigate, HMAS Melbourne to close and board another suspect dhow in the Arabian Sea. HMAS Melbourne used her S-70 Seahawk helicopter to locate the dhow, operating about 170 nautical miles east-south-east of Muscat.

The ship’s boarding team conducted a standard security sweep locating a suspicious substance, which was tested and found to be another methamphetamine based substance.

The boarding team seized the suspected narcotics, took samples for further analysis and destroyed the remainder.

Commander Brian Schlegel, Commanding Officer, HMAS Melbourne, praised the professionalism of Melbourne’s boarding team and all involved in the operation saying: “The boarding team, operations team, flight crew and for that matter all the ship’s company conducted themselves in a professional manner during this boarding operation.

“The ship’s company are proud that in October, Melbourne disrupted a pirate action group of nine suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia, and within a week, had two successful drug seizures.”

Commodore Bates praised the teamwork and dedication of the multinational task force for all the recent drug busts and reiterated the link between drug smuggling and terrorism.

He said: “We focus on the prevention of transportation and trading of weapons, drugs and people, funds from which directly support terrorism.

“What people don’t seem to realise is that terrorism is expensive. It is a large operation made up of large numbers of people, many of whom are highly-skilled and that costs big money.

“Our job at the CTF150 is to inhibit the ability of violent terrorist organisations. If you’re able to catch enough of these shipments, you make the terrorists’ business model unattainable.”