A pair of Canadian warships are headed to Central America to hitch the US Coast Guard in a seven-week anti-trafficking operation.
The coastal protection ships HMCS Edmonton and HMCS Yellowknife departed Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt in BC on Monday night with roughly 75 crew members.
The ships are headed to the jap Pacific coast the place they may liaise with US authorities to find and intercept vessels suspected of transporting medicine and different illicit items by way of Latin America and the Caribbean Sea.
Canadian ships will carry US Coast Guard personnel to conduct boarding operations below the supervision of maritime patrol plane.
“Along with our allies, we’re reaching success in making the continent safer from the threats posed by illicit drug trafficking,” Rear Admiral Christopher Robinson, commander of Canada's Maritime Forces Pacific and Joint Activity Power Pacific, mentioned mentioned in a press release on Monday.
In years previous, sailors on deployment have seized tens of millions of {dollars} value of cocaine, together with final April when HMCS Edmonton and a pair of U.S. Coast Guard ships intercepted a vessel off Mexico that was carrying a cargo of 755 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated worth of $49.5 million.
Seven individuals had been arrested on board the ship greater than 300 kilometers from the Mexican coast. The suspects had been handed over to US authorities and the seized boat, which the US Coast Guard described as a “quick crusing vessel”, was destroyed at sea.
In February 2022, HMCS Yellowknife and its US legislation enforcement detachment on board responded to 21 suspected smuggling vessels, seizing and destroying greater than 850 kilograms of cocaine.
Often called Operation Caribbean, the common deployment of Canadian army ships and plane to the area started in 2006 and consists of associate nations from throughout Latin America and Europe.
In 2010, the mission was expanded with a joint memorandum between the USA and Canada that enables American legislation enforcement groups to function from Canadian warships.
The Division of Nationwide Protection estimates that the lengthy operation has led to the interception of greater than 123 tons of cocaine for the reason that starting.
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/canadian-warships-deploy-to-latin-america-for-anti-drug-trafficking-mission-1.6999247
