The French Navy frigate FS FLOREAL F 730 apprehended a vessel carrying over 520 kilograms of narcotics while on patrol in the Arabian Sea late last month, Combined Maritime Forces said in a statement.
Operating under the command of the Pakistan-led Combined Task Force (CTF) 150, FLOREAL’s crew conducted a routine inspection of a small dhow and discovered numerous bales of heroin hidden among the smaller vessel’s cargo of cement.
The French Navy boarding team ultimately found a total of 434 bales of heroin on board the dhow. The drugs are estimated to have a market value of over US$5 million.
It is her seventh recorded drug bust since the start of this new deployment to the Middle East in September 2018 of which the frigate’s crew had apprehended four narcotics-carrying vessels in the region in the month of May alone.
Images are of her sister FS GERMINAL F 735 at Valletta, Malta back in July 2008 for Italo-Maltese Military Exercise CANALE 2008 –
Photos by Capt. Lawrence Dalli. Do not use these images without my permission. © All rights reserved. Malta Ship Photos & Action Photos – www.maltashipphotos.com
