Wildcat Crew Discovers Largest Drug Plantation Ever To Be Viewed From Air

When Naval aviators revisited the site of the natural disaster to see how they might help should Soufrière Hills erupt again, they didn’t expect to make their surprise discovery.

A reconnaissance mission carried out by a Wildcat crew over the tiny island of Montserrat recently found nine suspected illegal drugs plantations in the island’s forbidden zone

Half the island was abandoned back in 1997 when the volcano erupted, swallowing the majority of its capital Plymouth with mud and lava.

The Royal Navy was instrumental in helping to evacuate many islanders in the eruption’s immediate aftermath.

The southern part of the island remains off limits twenty years after the disaster, despite the fact that the Soufrière Hills volcano hasn't erupted in four years.

Drug traffickers have apparently taken advantage of the territory’s abandoned state, which was last surveyed from the air two years ago.

The visit of Naval support ship RFA Mounts Bay, conducting a patrol of UK territories in the region, allowed fresh surveys of Montserrat to hunt for drugs plantations.

Lts Amy Gilmore, Oliver Bundock and Lee Colthart took Governor Elizabeth Carriere and some of her officials up in their Wildcat for an inspection of the island, then did the same with local police, who guided the helicopter to suspected drug hotspots.

Not only did they find nine sites, but they discovered the largest plantation ever seen from the air.

The plantation was situated near Dick Hill in the still-inhabited part of the island, and will now be destroyed by the authorities.

Last month the helicopter located nearly 20 illegal drugs farms in the British Virgin Islands.

The helicopter also scouted possible landing site and practised ferrying a tonne of water in a large cube slung beneath the Wildcat, vital practice in case of another eruption or hurricane in the region.