2 Apr 2013

Indian Ocean seizure nets 500kg of heroin

8:32 pm on 2 April 2013

An Australian-led combined task force has seized a half-tonne of heroin in a multi-national naval operation in the Indian Ocean.

The seizure of the drugs, with a street value of $A100 million, is said to be one of the largest in maritime history.

HMAS Toowoomba, along with Canadian warship HMCS Toronto, tracked and boarded the vessel carrying the heroin near Tanzania last Friday, the ABC reports.

Task force commander Commodore Charles McHardie says the destruction of the haul is a blow to terrorist groups that derive a major source of their funding from heroin trafficking.

The boarding occurred as part of Focused Operation Southern Sweep, which is designed to assist counter-terrorism efforts and aims to disrupt the movement of heroin from Afghanistan into East Africa by sea.