US Navy ships, operating in support of a Kiwi-led international maritime task force, have seized heroin with a street value of NZ$5.85 million from a stateless fishing vessel in the Arabian Sea.
The shipment, weighing 385 kgs, was discovered by US Coast Guard personnel onboard the USS Tempest and USS Typhoon while they were conducting a flag verification boarding, in accordance with international law, on Monday, December 27.
The confiscated drugs, worth $5.85 million, were destroyed at sea by US forces.
“Had the narcotics from all of the seizures from New Zealand’s time in command made their way to New Zealand, they would have a street value of NZ$2.36 billion,” Royal New Zealand Navy Captain Brendon Clark, commander of Combined Task Force 150, said in a statement.
CTF 150 is one of three task forces under the Combined Maritime Forces, which has increased regional patrols to locate and disrupt unlawful maritime activity.
The task force seized illegal drugs worth more than $282.5 million during counter-narcotics operations at sea in 2021.
The total value is higher than the amount of drugs intercepted and destroyed in the previous four years combined, the New Zealand Defence Force said in a media release.
The New Zealand-led multinational team took over command of CTF 150 from Canada earlier in 2021 and will command and staff the CTF 150 until early 2022.
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