HMS Manchester intercepts US$30m cocaine shipment

HMS Manchester at sea
(Photo: Royal Navy)

Monday, November 3, 2003

BOGOTA, Colombia: The Royal Navy destroyer, HMS Manchester, which was in the news last week when a crewmember died in a boating accident in St Vincent, intercepted a shipment of cocaine valued at US$30 million over the weekend.

According to the Royal Navy, the Manchester, a type 42 destroyer, was on patrol in Caribbean waters off the coast of Colombia when it received information of a drug-smuggling run using a high-powered twin-engined boat. 

A Lynx helicopter scrambled from the Manchester soon located the boat, but when the warship came into view the smugglers threw their cargo overboard. The smugglers fled back to Colombian territorial waters, where their boat was later found abandoned. 

HMS Manchester's crew recovered all the bales of cocaine jettisoned by the smugglers, weighing over a ton in total.

The Manchester has intercepted three other boats during October and stopped more than three tons of cocaine leaving South America. 

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