HMS Dragon makes second major drug bust in less than two weeks

Less than two weeks after seizing three tonnes of cannabis on the so-called “Hash Highway,” the crew of the Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon apprehended a small dhow to uncover a half-tonne haul of heroin and nine kilograms of crystal methampetamine.

The ship was patrolling the known smuggling route between the Makran Coast of Iran and Pakistan and East Africa, nicknamed the “Smack Track” because of the heroin trafficked, when one of the officers of the watch on the bridge spied a dhow far from the usual shipping lanes over the weekend.

The haul of drugs, which was later destroyed, is estimated to be worth US$2 million.