{"id":46767,"date":"2014-08-26T14:45:43","date_gmt":"2014-08-26T14:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=0cdf2a2ee3d8448e1b97e9166bcd52b9"},"modified":"2014-08-26T14:45:43","modified_gmt":"2014-08-26T14:45:43","slug":"news-story-royal-navy-drugs-bust-in-caribbean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=46767","title":{"rendered":"News story: Royal Navy drugs bust in Caribbean"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>After receiving information that a suspicious-looking vessel had been spotted by a maritime patrol aircraft, HMS Argyll, which is on counter-narcotics operations in the region, deployed to intercept it.<\/p>\n<p>Argyll\u2019s Lynx helicopter confirmed the vessel was acting in a way typical of being operated by drug smugglers, and her sea boats were sent across to capture the crew and contraband. Once on board, members of a US Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment and Royal Navy sailors discovered nearly 600 kilos of cocaine wrapped in bin bags.<\/p>\n<p>Armed Forces Minister Mark Francois said: <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">The Royal Navy has a hard-earned record of tackling illegal drug smuggling and we should be extremely proud that HMS Argyll has been involved in a dramatic and very successful operation to disrupt the supply. The operation showed tenacity and professionalism.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>HMS Argyll\u2019s commanding officer, Commander Paul Hammond, said: <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">My team and I knew that a swift and correct interception was required in this case. We worked well with our international partners to give ourselves the best chance of success and I used the exceptional capabilities of a modern warship, including sea boats and the Lynx helicopter, to detain the crew and seize the drugs from the target vessel.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure class=\"image embedded\">\n<div class=\"img\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Royal Navy sailors transferring the seized cocaine to a US Coast Guard vessel\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk\/government\/uploads\/system\/uploads\/image_data\/file\/30001\/drug2.jpg\"><\/div><figcaption>Royal Navy sailors loading the seized cocaine onto the deck of a US Coast Guard vessel [Picture: Leading Airman (Photographer) Stephen Johncock, Crown copyright]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This work is part of Operation Martillo, a 15-nation collaborative effort to deny transnational criminal organisations air and maritime access to the coastal regions of Central America with the goal of putting a stop to the illegal movement of drugs from South America to the western world.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.royalnavy.mod.uk\/our-organisation\/the-fighting-arms\/surface-fleet\/frigates\/hms-argyll\">HMS Argyll<\/a> will continue to conduct counter-narcotics patrols in conjunction with the US Coast Guard and other partner nations to enhance regional security and deter illicit activity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Royal Navy warship has seized \u00a321 million worth of cocaine after a 12-hour pursuit across the Caribbean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46767"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46767\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}