WILLEMSTAD:--- The Royal Netherlands Navy ship HNLMS Friesland intercepted approximately 1900 kilograms of drugs in her last weeks. The Friesland forced the three so-called go-fasts to stop. These were the fifth, sixth, and seventh drugs interdiction for the Friesland in a period of two months, which makes it a total of 3880 kilograms of drugs that were intercepted by the ship in the Caribbean.
The first two go-fasts were discovered by a maritime patrol plane of the Dominican Republic and the US Coast Guard. The third go-fast was discovered by an American maritime patrol plane. The Friesland sent the FRISC, a fast speedboat with a combined team of the ship’s crew and US Coast Guard, to intercept the go-fasts. During the first and the second case, the smugglers decided to throw the packages overboard when they saw the FRISC coming.
The Friesland took the contraband on board and the smugglers were arrested. Later on, the American coast guard cutter USCGC Dauntless was on-site to take over the contraband and the suspected smugglers of the first two cases. The contraband and smugglers of the third case were handed over to USS Billings.
HNLMS Friesland has been stationed in the Caribbean area since January 2022 and is active for the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard in combination with the execution of counter drugs operations. Earlier this year, the Friesland already intercepted four drugs transportations in the Caribbean area. Since the Friesland’s deployment there have been 7 intercepts executed, a total amount of 3880 kg of drugs was seized and 21 suspected smugglers were arrested.
