PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - RAF Counterdrugs operations in the Caribbean in the 1990s ?
Old 22nd Apr 2017, 12:48
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ShotOne
 
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"Not a topic for open discussion"..."perilously close to breakingOSA.." Ha, really.. you are joking?

About twenty seconds on Google produced a host of UK-military drug seizures, from a top-secret source... OK they were on MOD website, complete with smug pics of crew and ships heli, point being the MOD went to some lengths to court publicity.

It's exceptionally unlikely that the intelligence which led to any of the seizures came from the military. It would be interesting to hear from the agency which supplied that info how they felt. From a law-enforcement viewpoint, seizure at sea isn't great; Ok the drugs are seized which is good but they are easily replaced and damage to the smuggling organisation is minimal; A few penniless fishermen get banged up and that's it.

My own experience with law enforcement in Far East was that on occasions we asked military to shadow a shipment at sea, the navy would, even when expressly asked not to,intercept and seize the shipment. Lots of good press for them but no meaningful convictions and months of investigative work wasted.
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