The Australian Navy said Saturday it had seized hashish and heroin worth more than 208 million Australian dollars (150 million US dollars) from fishing vessels in the Arabian Sea.
More than 2.1 tons of hashish and 345 kilograms of heroin were seized by the Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Ballarat during the course of two operations on Monday and Tuesday, the navy said in a statement said.
The drugs were found aboard two fishing vessels, known as dhow, which were investigated after they exhibited suspicious behaviour.
‘The boardings were conducted under the direction of the Combined Maritime Forces in international waters,’ Commanding Officer Paul Johnson said.
The seized hashish is worth approximately 105 million dollars and the heroin is worth more than 103.5 million dollars. The drugs were destroyed.
The narcotics bust follows three previous drug seizures by the navy, totalling 931 kilograms of heroin in December and 3.1 tons of hashish in early January.
‘Ballarat's success so far has been the result of a complex operation using sophisticated technology, information networks and careful surveillance to detect vessels suspected of narcotics trafficking,’ Johnson said.
HMAS Ballarat is deployed to the Middle East for counter-terrorism and counter-piracy operations in the North Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
