Royal Navy warship sails into Indian port after huge drugs bust in Middle East

HMS Dragon sailed into to Goa to join Indian Navy ships in exercise Konkan 2018.

The bilateral naval operation has been taking place since 2004 and provides a vital opportunity for the two military forces to strengthen their working bonds at sea.

The Portsmouth-based destroyer will be operating alongside INS Kolkata, the lead destroyer in its class, and an unidentified Indian Navy submarine. In addition, they will be joined by an Indian maritime aircraft.

The news comes after Dragon seized its enormous haul of drugs on Sunday.

The Type 45 was on patrol in the Middle East, in a drug-smuggling route known as the '˜Hash Highway', when it came across a suspicious boat.

Sailors and Royal Marines boarded the vessel and found 148 bags of hashish hidden on board.

It's one of the Royal Navy's biggest drugs busts in the region this year.

The bags of drugs seized on the dhow, a type of vessel common in the Middle East, weighed 3,048kg.

Officials from the Ministry of Defence said the seizure dealt a '˜major blow to the funding of terrorism'.

The seizure, on Sunday, deals "a major blow to the funding of terrorism", the Ministry of Defence said.

Dragon will be taking part in Konkan 2018 until December 6.