Indian Ocean: Pakistan’s ‘Merry-time’ Route For Narcotics Trafficking

NEW DELHI: After a 10-hour vigil in March this year, British warship HMS Montrose that was on patrol in the Arabian Sea intercepted a dhow off Oman, leading to recovery of nearly three tonnes of heroin, crystal methamphetamine and hashish. The frigate had reported two back-to-back seizures in mid-February, confiscating a range of illegal narcotics worth US $15 million. In December last year, U.S. Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson intercepted over 900 kilograms of narcotics from a stateless dhow operating in the Arabian Sea. USS Ralph Johnson, like HMS Montrose, was deployed in support of Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), the international partnership for maritime security in the Western Indian Ocean, and her success marked the fourth CMF narcotics seizure since October 2020. Read More…