Australian frigate HMAS Warramunga seizes eight tons of hashish in Arabian Sea

Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Warramunga seized almost eight tons of hashish and 69 kilograms of heroin from three separate vessels in the Arabian Sea over a course of two days.

The crew of Warramunga seized the drugs in an operation spanning between December 27 and 29, 2017.

According to the Australian Navy, the illegal drug haul is the largest quantity of hashish seized by an Australian ship on Middle East maritime security operations with the overall haul estimated to be valued at around AUD$415 million.

The illegal drugs were transferred to Warramunga for later disposal at sea.

The operation was planned and coordinated by the Combined Maritime Forces’ Combined Task Force 150 which is currently commanded by Australia—supported by a combined Australian-Canadian staff.

Commanding officer Warramunga, Commander Dugald Clelland, said the operation was the culmination of months of hard work by the ship’s company.

“The crew prepared extensively for a task like this and we were able to employ our helicopter and boarding crews to locate and board three suspect vessels.

“A thorough search by the boarding parties uncovered a large quantity of hashish and heroin intended for distribution around the world,” Commander Clelland said.

Warramunga is deployed to operation Manitou in the Middle East Region for the third time, as part of Joint Task Force 633 and is the 66th rotation of an individual Royal Australian Navy ship in the region since 1990.