Royal Navy warship HMS Montrose charges into action to make £6m drugs bust in the Gulf

The team from HMS Montrose recovered bales of hash from the waters of the Gulf of Oman – then found a secret narcotics cache hidden aboard a dhow during a two-day operation which resulted in a haul worth more than £6m on the streets of the UK being seized by the Royal Navy frigate.

It’s the second haul of hashish seized by the Royal Navy in three weeks, following on from Portsmouth-based HMS Defender two-and-a-half tonne haul.

And it’s the second success for HMS Montrose, which intercepted a cargo of crystal meth and heroin in October worth around £1m.

‘This seizure is another impressive demonstration of the Royal Navy’s vital work around the world,’ said armed forces minister James Heappey.

‘Our servicemen and women, once again, have proved that their skill and professionalism can disrupt major criminal organisations and continue to keep our citizens safe.’

This week’s success began when the Plymouth-based frigate’s Wildcat helicopter – capable of tracking more than 200 vessels simultaneously – came across a dhow moving through waters known to be used by traffickers.

By sunrise the next day, the warship had arrived close to the dhow’s location, ready to pounce.

‘As the sun rose over the Arabian Sea, several packages could be seen floating in the water near the dhow,’ said Lieutenant Commander Charli Martin, Montrose’s weapon engineer officer.

‘The packages were recovered and determined to be hashish. Royal Marine Commandos then boarded the dhow, securing it for search by a Royal Navy boarding team.’

The master of the dhow admitted that the packages in the water came from his vessel, and after a thorough search of the dhow, the team found another cache of hashish.

Combined with the drugs recovered from the sea, Montrose total seizure of hashish was 1,045kg – worth an estimated regional wholesale value of US $538,860, or £6m if distributed in Britain.

‘I am very proud of the crew of HMS Montrose – last week we were 800 miles away providing maritime security for merchant shipping in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, and this week disrupting the flow of illegal narcotics through the seizure of Hashish worth around £6m on the UK market,’ said Commander Charles Collins, Montrose’s captain.

‘It was a proper team effort and just shows how HMS Montrose is like a Swiss Army knife of capability, able to react at a moment’s notice to anything we are tasked to do.’

Montrose is based long-term in Bahrain. She is expected to return to the UK in a couple years’ time, where she will then change from a Plymouth-flagged ship to a Portsmouth one.