Warramunga seizures top AU$1 billion with latest heroin haul

By Baird Maritime - February 4, 2018.

Image: LSIS Tom Gibson – Leading Seaman Electronics Technician Adam Cook, Able Seaman Electronics Technician Dylan Canderle and Able Seaman Boatswains Mate Lydia Ratu Kavoa label and bag parcels of seized narcotics.

The crew of Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Warramunga has seized another 414kg of heroin valued at AU$124 million (US$98.3 million) in the western Indian Ocean.

The total haul from seven vessels includes 11.5 tonnes of hashish and 1.5 tonnes of heroin, valued art more than AU$1 billion, since November.

The ship’s Seahawk helicopter crew detected the smuggling vessel while conducting surveillance late on February 1, in an operation planned by the Australian-led Combined Task Force 150 (CTF 150).

The subsequent boarding by crew located the narcotics.

“As a result of this latest seizure, Warramunga has now taken more than $1 billion of narcotics out of circulation, meaning the funds raised from this sale are no longer available for use by terrorist organisations around the world,” Commander Dugald Clelland said.

The Commander of CTF 150, Commodore Mal Wise, RAN, said the ship’s ongoing success was the result of close cooperation between the ship’s crew and the Australian-Canadian planning team at CTF 150.

The narcotics were transferred to Warramunga and disposed at sea.