Portsmouth warship seizes a tonne of cocaine worth £140m in double drugs bust

A Portmouth-based warship has seized more than a tonne of cocaine, worth more than £140m on the streets of Britain, after intercepting drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea.

HMS Dauntless hunted down a smuggler's boat and seized 1,230kg of cocaine, after the radar system alerted sailors to the presence of a suspect vessel.

The crew deployed a Wildcat helicopter, Royal Marines and a US Coast Guard team to stop and search the smugglers’ boat.

One of the ship’s team: “It was great to see how Dauntless has integrated with multinational partners. I am proud to be part of a successful team that tracked and identified the vessel.

“We see the effect of drugs and the effort it takes to combat it, so it is excellent to tackle the problem closer to the source.”

In a second operation in the Caribbean Sea, the ship helped US Law Enforcement Agencies in tracking a suspicious aircraft flying from Venezuela, where ground forces seized a further 550kg of cocaine.

HMS Dauntless is currently patrolling the Caribbean Sea to intercept drugs smugglers and disrupt their illegal activities across the region.

The ship is also providing assistance to British Overseas Territories during hurricane season, which runs from June to November.

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