Counter-Terrorism: The Hashish Highway

Archives

July 13, 2009: An American P-3C patrol aircraft, in the Gulf of Aden, off Oman, spotted and identified a large dhow (an Arab sail boat). A nearby British warship intercepted and boarded the dhow, where they found ten tons of hashish (worth about $70 million on the street). The drugs were destroyed, along with some other equipment related to drug trafficking. The ship and its crew were then released, because British law did not cover arresting drug smugglers on the high seas. However, the drug shipment was apparently from Pakistan, and some of the proceeds of the sale were believed to be destined for one of the Taliban factions. There have been other drug seizures by the ships of the international piracy patrol, but this was the largest one this year. All that oil money in the Persian Gulf has created a large demand for recreational drugs.

 

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close