Pubdate: Tue, 21 Dec 2004
Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)
Copyright: 2004 Telegraph Group Limited
Contact:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/114
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

NAVY SEIZES 12 TONNES OF COCAINE

A Royal Navy warship has helped seize 12 tonnes of cocaine worth
millions of pounds as part of a crackdown on Jamaican drug smugglers,
the Foreign Office has said.

HMS Richmond has helped seize 12 tonnes of cocaine

Since October, HMS Richmond, a Type 23 frigate, has been assigned to
Operation Kingfish - a joint initiative with the Jamaican authorities
and the US Coast Guard to counter the island's illegal drugs trade.

The operation has also involved officers from Scotland Yard's
Operation Trident - which investigates gun crime among London's black
community - travelling to the island to assist in investigations.

Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell said that although the operation
had been running less than three months, it had already proved a
"significant success".

It had, he said, contributed to a fall of 80 per cent since the start
of the year in the amount of cocaine flowing through the island, which
is an important staging post for cocaine produced in Colombia.

With an estimated 20 per cent of the cocaine on Britain's streets
transiting through Jamaica and 80 per cent originating in Colombia,
officials hope that Operation Kingfish will also hit the UK drugs trade.

"This is not just about altruism. Clearly we want to help countries
scarred by drugs but we are helping ourselves as well," Mr Rammell
said.

The operation was set up after Caribbean leaders appealed to Tony
Blair at talks in London at the end of last year for greater
assistance in tackling the region's drugs traffickers.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin