HMAS Newcastle Seizes $520 Mln Worth of Drugs

Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Newcastle patrolling with the Combined Maritime Forces in the Middle East region has seized another 581kg of illegal narcotics with an estimated street value of approximately $520 million.

The half-tonne heroin haul is Newcastle’s fifth in two months and comes on the back of her recent 724kg narcotics seizure.

Acting Commander of Australia’s Joint Task Force 633 Brigadier Nagy Sorial said the latest haul was the second largest in CMF history. Since February 2014, Australian ships assigned to JTF633 have seized more than 4 tonnes of heroin.

BRIG Sorial said:

The weekend’s find made Australia’s maritime contribution to CMF one of the world’s most effective current heroin interdiction forces.

To date HMAS Newcastle’s total seizures for Operation MANITOU is just over 1.3 tonnes of heroin valued at approximately $1.114 billion.

HMAS Newcastle intercepted the stateless dhow off the east African coast where her boarding party uncovered the hidden narcotics onboard.

Image: Australian Navy