Australian warship HMAS Melbourne has made another big drug bust during operations in the Middle East, this time seizing two tonnes of cannabis resin from a smuggling dhow.
This quantity of drugs has an estimated Australian street value of $113 million, defence said.
It follows two other large busts earlier this month - 190 kilograms of heroin from one vessel and 385kg of heroin from another.
Melbourne captain Commander Brian Schlegel said these seizures helped prevent funding of international terrorism.
He said Melbourne's boarding party located 62 bags containing almost 4000 cannabis resin bricks.
"Each brick is more than enough to buy an AK-47 or IED components. Therefore, removing the funding that flows from the sale of these drugs has a direct impact on a terrorist organisation's ability to buy weapons in the future," he said in a statement.
In the latest bust, Melbourne worked with Pakistani Naval Ship (PNS) Alamgir which initially spotted the suspect fishing dhow east of Masriah Island, Oman, early on February 12.
Melbourne intercepted and boarded the vessel on February 13, locating the drugs in a hidden compartment in the hold.
Melbourne is patrolling in the western Indian Ocean region under the command of the multinational Combined Task Force 150, which conducts counter-terrorist and counter-narcotics operations.
