HMS Manchester assists RMPF in $6M haul
by Bennette Roach
The 350kg suspected Narcotics are loaded into the back of a RMPF Police Van
On Thursday, June 24, Government House advised that, “The Royal Navy frigate HMS Manchester will pay a courtesy call to Montserrat from Friday 25 June to Monday 28 June 2010.”
But according to information from the ship, within hours of arrival at Port Little Bay, on Friday, between 10 a.m. and 12 noon, the HMS MANCHESTER under the captaincy of Commander R J Fox, was able to assist the Royal Montserrat Police Force (RMPF) in the significant quantity of Marijuana.
As is normal, while visiting, the navy ships usually carry out aerial reconnaissance of the island during their visits, and have on previous occasion uncovered fields of marijuana plants in the mountains. This time as part of the counter Narcotics operation HMS Manchester put its lynx helicopter into service and observed a power boat “operating in a manner that raised suspicion of illicit activity.”
Information provided to the Royal Montserrat Police (RMPF) guided the RMPF police launch to intercept the vessel. They soon observed 12 x 35 kg bales on the beach which contain the suspected narcotics (marijuana).
The men from the vessel are held in custody, but early unconfirmed reports say that five men of St. Vincent & the Grenadines nationality have been apprehended and are in custody on suspicion of being connected with the marijuana.
According to the ships command, while the local police have placed an estimated value of £500,000 on the seizure, “the value of the marijuana in the United Kingdom would be over £1.5 million, the equivalent of approximately EC$6 million.
HMS MANCHESTER is anchored off the coast of Montserrat as part of the Atlantic Patrol Tasking (North) Deployment in support of the British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean region.
Lt. Luke Edwards, (HMS MANCHESTER'S Flight Pilot) lands the Lynx Helicopter with 350kg of suspected Narcotics on Board.
The ship, which is also fitted with a Lynx Helicopter, is commanded by Commander R.J. Cox, Royal Navy and has a crew of 220 on board. The ship, which is over 140 metres in length, will anchor in Little Bay during the visit.
The aim of HMS Manchester’s visit is to strengthen relationships with the Government and people of Montserrat and to conduct early joint hurricane disaster relief operations planning in association with the DMCA.
In addition to official activities the crew will play football against an Island XI at Blakes Football Field on Saturday evening (kick off 5 .30 pm) and will also make a number of-site-seeing visits around the island.
The local press was invited on board the ship on Saturday morning, where they could obtain more information about the ship and its activities while visiting Montserrat and its station in the region.
RMPF Launch tows suspected boat to shore.
