"Awww, man! They got my whole stash!"
The U.S. Navy has seized another small boat carrying drugs near the Persian Gulf after interrogating smugglers with suspected links to the al-Qaida terrorist network, the military announced Friday.
| "Hiya, there, matey! Say! That's a really neat turban y'got. Let's have a little talk!" |
The boat seized on New Year’s Day was the fourth drug-smuggling vessel intercepted by Americans in the past two weeks in or near the Persian Gulf. Pentagon officials say they believe all four boats, which were carrying hashish, heroin and methamphetamines, are part of a drug smuggling operation which funnels money to Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network. An American search of the boat, a wooden vessel called a dhow, found about 2,800 pounds of hashish with an estimated street value of $11 million, according to a statement from the Navy’s 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain. U.S. Navy ships including the USS Port Royal, USS Peleliu and USS Germantown stopped the boat Thursday in the northern Arabian Sea, said Cmdr. James Graybeal, a 5th Fleet spokesman. Searchers found the drugs Friday under blocks of ice and in hidden compartments in the vessel, he said.
Fifteen people aboard the dhow are being held by the Navy aboard the Peleliu, an amphibious assault ship which carries the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. |