A multinational naval coalition said it seized over 67 tonnes of drugs worth more than $189 million in operations near the Arabian Gulf in 2021, a record for the task force.
The value of the drugs seized by the Bahrain-based Combined Task Force 150, or CTF 150, exceeded the past four years combined, said Tim Hawkins, spokesman for the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) that oversees the task force.
The haul including 6,550 kilograms of heroin, 4,052 kilograms of methamphetamine and 56,834 kilograms of hashish was all destroyed, he told AFP.
Commander of CTF 150, Royal New Zealand Navy Captain Brendon Clark, said the drugs came from a number of countries around the region, without specifying.
“It’s all about maritime security operations… preventing illicit activity from non-state actors in the region,” he told AFP.
“We do that so that we can have legitimate commercial shipping, legitimate commercial fishing, can transit and operate in the region free from these non state threats.”
CTF 150 is part of the CMF naval partnership in which 34 nations patrol 3.2 million square miles of international waters. The New Zealand navy took command of CTF 150 in July.