Australian frigate seizes two tons of hashish in Middle East

Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Ballarat seized two tons of hashish worth an estimated AU$100 million in street value during a boarding operation on February 28.

This is the sixth seizure of narcotics by Ballarat during her current deployment to the Middle East, which she started in October last year.

The boarding was conducted in international waters by the Combined Task Force 150 under the direction of the Combined Maritime Forces.

Following the suspicious behavior of a fishing vessel known as ‘dhow’, the boarding team searched and discovered 100 hessian bags of hashish on board, which were transferred to Ballarat for testing and then destroyed.

The previous boardings have resulted in Ballarat seizing and destroying about 1.2 tons of heroin and 5.2 tons of hashish.