A U.S. Navy and Coast Guard team operating in the Middle Eastern waters with U.S. 5th Fleet seized nearly 850 pounds of heroin worth $4 million “from a stateless fishing vessel” Monday.
Coast Guard members embarked on the coast patrol ships Tempest and Typhoon seized the narcotics while conducting a flag verification boarding, and the drugs were soon destroyed at sea, according to a Navy release. The dhow was manned by Iranian nationals in the Arabian Sea.
The service released the vessel and its nine crewmembers, who identified themselves as Iranian nationals, after the drug seizure.
The ships were operating as part of Combined Task Force 150, which has seized more than $193 million in drugs during at-sea operations in 2021 — a value higher than the total of the last four years of seizures combined, according to the Navy.
Geoff is the managing editor of Military Times, but he still loves writing stories. He covered Iraq and Afghanistan extensively and was a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. He welcomes any and all kinds of tips at geoffz@militarytimes.com.
