Navy

Royal Navy Helps Seize Cocaine Worth £350M In English Channel

A joint operation involving UK and French law enforcement has resulted in the seizure of around 2.4 tonnes of cocaine from a freighter a few miles off the UK’s south coast.

Acting on intelligence from the National Crime Agency and the French Customs investigation service DNRED, the Moldovan flagged MV Carib Palm was intercepted in the Eastern Channel on Thursday 10 December.

It had sailed from Colombia and was on its way to Gdansk in Poland.

The interception, led by French Customs and supported by Border Force and the Royal Navy patrol vessel HMS Severn, was coordinated by the UK's Portsmouth-based National Maritime Information Centre (NMIC) and the Maritime Analysis and Operational Centre - Narcotics in Lisbon.

HMS Severn on exercise

"Our varied remit routinely sees the ship working with various organisations and agencies all focused on enforcing UK maritime law."

Lieutenant Commander Steven Banfield

HMS Severn, once tasked by the NMIC, sped to the Dover Straits where she then spotted the vessel and tracked its movements before it was intercepted by the French authorities.

The ship was taken to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer where it was searched by French Customs.

The cocaine seizure is believed to be one of the biggest ever made in France.

But it wasn't the biggest the Royal Navy has seized...

In the UK the drugs would have had a wholesale value of around £90 million, but if cut and sold at street level purity the haul could have had a potential value in excess of £350 million.

HMS Richmond recently seized £3m in cannabis in the Mediterranean

The twelve crew members, who were Georgian, Turkish and Ukrainian, were arrested and now face prosecution in France.

Tom Dowdall, Head of the NCA’s Border Policing Command, said: “The sheer scale of this seizure makes it likely that a large amount of the seized drugs would have ended up being sold on the streets of the UK."

“This operation is an excellent example of how the NCA works with international partners to target and disrupt the organised crime groups involved in trafficking cocaine to Europe and the UK.”

The Commanding Officer of HMS Severn, Lieutenant Commander Steven Banfield said: “The Royal Navy’s River Class Offshore Patrol Vessels are highly versatile ships operating throughout the year in and around UK waters.

“This activation highlights the utility of OPV’s and that of the ships’ company.

“Our varied remit routinely sees the ship working with various organisations and agencies all focused on enforcing UK maritime law.

“In this case, whilst acting as a support unit, the combined operation has been a success and a substantial amount of narcotics has been seized and prevented from being distributed throughout the streets of Europe.”