An interdiction team from the destroyer USS Momsen boards a fishing vessel May 16, 2022 in the Gulf of Oman. The vessel was seized while transiting international waters. (Lily Gebauer/US Navy)
A Navy destroyer patrolling the Gulf of Oman this week seized $39 million worth of methamphetamine from a fishing vessel in waters used to smuggle people, weapons and narcotics, the 5th Fleet said on Tuesday. American.
The discovery of more than 1,400 pounds of methamphetamine came after a US Coast Guard interdiction team from the USS Momsen boarded the fishing vessel during a routine flag check, according to a Fleet press release.
Crew members attempted to throw more than 60 bullets of drugs as the Momsen approached, 5th Fleet said. The drugs and the ship remain in United States custody.
Nine crew members identified as Iranian nationals will be transferred to a country in the region for repatriation.
An MH-60R Seahawk from Marine Attack Helicopter Squadron 35, Detachment 1, provides air support to an interdiction team from the destroyer USS Momsen, as they approach the fishing vessel, May 16, 2022. The vessel was seized in international waters in the Gulf of Oman. (Lily Gebauer/US Navy)
An interdiction team from the destroyer USS Momsen approaches a fishing vessel May 16, 2022. The vessel was seized in international waters in the Gulf of Oman. (Lily Gebauer/US Navy)
Sailors aboard the destroyer USS Momsen count bags of illegal narcotics May 16, 2022. The narcotics were seized from a fishing boat in the Gulf of Oman. (Lily Gebauer/US Navy)
Bags of illegal narcotics are stacked aboard the destroyer USS Momsen, May 16, 2022, after being seized from a fishing vessel in the Gulf of Oman. (Lily Gebauer/US Navy)
Momsen was patrolling international waters Sunday and Monday in support of Combined Task Force 150, one of four task forces of the Combined Maritime Forces, the statement said.
CTF 150 made nine drug seizures in 2022, confiscating heroin, methamphetamine, amphetamine pills and hashish with a combined value of $130 million, the Navy said.
The combined maritime forces comprise 34 nations and are headquartered in Bahrain along with the US Naval Forces Central Command and the US 5th Fleet.
