Royal Netherlands Navy offshore patrol vessel HNLMS Friesland has seized about 3,000kg of cocaine and marijuana from smugglers in the Caribbean Sea.
As per a recent social media post, the Holland-class OPV had just begun patrolling the waters of the ABC islands — Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, the three westernmost islands of the Leeward Antilles — at the end of last month when she was called into action.
The Dash-8 patrol aircraft of Kustwacht Caribisch Gebied, the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard, spotted a suspicious boat and called in the OPV, which set a course towards the vessel and launched two ribs to intercept.
As per the coast guard’s account, a chase ensued, during which smugglers dumped their drugs bales overboard. More than 100 packages of drugs were fished out of the water: a total of 1,837kg of cocaine and 1,173kg of marijuana.
The calculated U.S. street value of the drugs comes to about $220 million for the cocaine and $5 million for the cannabis, using the latest available UN estimates.
The drugs were later handed over to the Seventh District U.S. Coast Guard for disposal.
The Dutch Navy website remarked: “The Friesland sails as a station ship in the Caribbean. It supports the Caribbean Coast Guard, as well as the American. The naval ship also carries out anti-drug operations and provides humanitarian aid when necessary.”