A Pakistani navy ship seized narcotics price greater than $972 million from sailboats within the Arabian Sea, U.S. Central Command confirmed on Tuesday.
The Mixed Maritime Forces, a naval partnership that features the US, stated the Pakistani naval vessel PNS Yarmook final week intercepted two totally different conventional crusing vessels, generally known as dhows, inside 48 hours.
The crew seized a number of tons of crystal methamphetamine, price over $960 million, and a smaller quantity of cocaine, the partnership said in a statement.
“The narcotics have been transported again to the ship for testing to verify the contents and subsequently disposed of,” the partnership stated.
The intercepted vessels have been “recognized as having no nationality,” it stated with out indicating the place they’d originated.
Pakistan’s navy touted the seizure on social media, posting video of the PNS Yarmook.
“The success of this targeted operation highlights the significance of the multi-national collaboration,” stated Royal Saudi Naval Forces Commodore Fahad Aljoiad, commander of the duty power finishing up the operation. “PNS Yarmook has had one of the crucial profitable narcotics seizures for CMF, which is instantly attributed to the experience and collaboration of our naval forces throughout the group.”
In a social media post, U.S. Central Command congratulated the Mixed Maritime Forces, which incorporates 47 nations’ navies and patrols greater than 3 million sq. miles of sea, together with a number of the world’s busiest delivery lanes, to disrupt the smuggling of medicine and weapons.
Smugglers usually use dhows to move medicine quietly by the area. In 2021, the U.S. Navy rescued 5 Iranians suspected of smuggling medicine after they apparently set fire to their stash on board a dhow.
Massive quantities of medicine have been confiscated from boats within the open sea across the globe in latest months. Final month, the French navy seized almost 10 tons of cocaine price greater than $600 million from a fishing vessel off the coast of West Africa.
In April, the U.S. Coast Guard seized roughly 10,000 pounds of cocaine from a fishing boat within the Atlantic Ocean. That haul was price an estimated $74 million.
