Dramatic moment Royal Navy soldiers intercept speedboat and seize cocaine worth £40m in Caribbean

This is the dramatic moment  the Royal Navy intercepted a speedboat and seized cocaine worth £40m. 

In the footage Royal Navy soldiers can be seen leaving the HMS Trent on multiple smaller vessels, where they are roughly 120 nautical miles south of the Dominican Republic.  

The video then cuts to the soldiers back on the HMS Trent but with men in their custody – who are wearing orange life jackets – they escort them onto the ship with their hands behind their head. 

Later on, an officer returns to the ship on a different speedboat which is full of what appears to be bricks of Cocaine scattered across floor of the vessel.

It is the sixth bust made by HMS Trent this year, which has confiscated close to seven tons of drugs worth £551.5 million.

A suspected smuggler puts his hands on his head as he is led away. HMS Trent was alerted to a speed boat suspected of smuggling cocaine

The Portsmouth-based ship closed in and dispatched the Royal Marines and US Coast Guard on board to intercept the vessel

Some 1,115lb of the narcotic was seized and three alleged smugglers handed over to the US authorities

The smugglers threw their cargo overboard during the operation, but thanks to HMS Trent’s swift response all contraband was seized

HMS Trent (pictured) has made its sixth bust this year. It has been working closely with the US Coast Guard and the Joint Interagency Task Force

The warship was pressed into action on August 8 after being alerted to a speedboat that was smuggling cocaine off the southern coast of the Dominican Republic. 

With a US maritime patrol aircraft overhead, the Portsmouth-based ship closed in and dispatched the Royal Marines and US Coast Guard on board to intercept the vessel.

The smugglers threw their cargo overboard in an attempt to prevent it from being captured.

Some 1,115lb of the narcotic was seized and three alleged smugglers handed over to the US authorities. Commander Tim Langford hailed the ‘successful operation with our American partners’, adding: ‘Every member of my team can be proud.’

Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard said the operation ‘highlights the Royal Navy’s vital role’ in upholding international law in the region, adding: ‘We are sending a clear message to drug traffickers that… we will disrupt and dismantle their operations wherever they are in the world.’

HMS Trent, which has been working closely with the US Coast Guard and the Joint Interagency Task Force (South), has now seized 6,995kg of drugs in 2024.

The ship is still patrolling Caribbean waters.

The Royal Navy said the aim is to be a reassuring presence to British Overseas Territories during hurricane season (from June to November) and to stem the flow of illegal cargo through the region.