UK Navy Seizes Boat with $384M of Cocaine

Britain's Royal Navy said Monday it made a record seizure of cocaine when a frigate operating off the coast of South America captured drugs with an estimated street value of more than $384 million.

The Ministry of Defense said the HMS Iron Duke found about 6 tons of cocaine on a fishing boat earlier this month - the Royal Navy's largest drug seizure ever.

"This surpasses anything we've had and anything the Navy had previously," said Commander Andrew Stacey of the HMS Iron Duke. "It is the largest drugs bust by value, and by volume in terms of cocaine."

The ministry refused to say exactly where the operation took place for security reasons.

The Navy launched the operation after one of its helicopters spotted a fishing boat "acting suspiciously" in an area known for drug trafficking, a ministry statement said. Along with the U.S. Coast Guard and another British vessel, the HMS Iron Duke intercepted the boat on Sept. 15 and spent the next 24 hours searching for contraband.

They found more than 200 57-pound bales of cocaine under concrete in the fishing boat's ballast tanks, the ministry said. The cocaine's final destination is unknown.

Britain's Prince William served a brief tour aboard the HMS Iron Duke last summer. While the prince was a crew member, the ship seized cocaine worth an estimated $72 million after an operation northeast of Barbados. Earlier this year, the ship seized drugs worth an estimated $53 million.