Spectacular seizure on the high seas. The French Navy announced on Monday the interception in the Arabian Sea of a cargo of nearly 500 kilograms of heroin and 3.5 tons of cannabis resin, with an estimated value of 50 million euros.
The drugs, “some of which are probably intended for the European market”, were discovered on board a sailboat without nationality, intercepted on December 27 by the frigate Guépratte “while patrolling the northwest of the ocean Indian en route to the Strait of Hormuz,” the maritime command of the Indian Ocean area, based in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, said in a statement.
Another drug seizure at the end of November in the Gulf of Guinea
Placed under the command of the Indian Ocean maritime zone (ALINDIEN), the frigate Guépratte now patrols the Gulf of Oman and the Arabo-Persian Gulf as part of the European maritime surveillance mission in the Strait of Hormuz .
The Indian Ocean, through which 65% of the world’s trade flows pass, is a major international security and economic issue. At the end of November, the French navy had already seized another large shipment of drugs in the Gulf of Guinea. More than 4.5 tons of cocaine were found on board a Brazilian tugboat.