By Tony Field
The crew of an Air Force Orion has returned home after helping seize around $280 million worth of hashish off the coast of Somalia.
They were part of a combined operation with the Australian Navy chasing smugglers, and it was an eventful mission right to the end.
The Air Force P3 Orion was coming in to land when one of its four engines was struck by a hawk.
“It’s something we prepare for and train for often,” says Captain Flight Lieutenant Timothy McAlevey. “It didn’t take us too long to deal with, [we] ended up with a precautionary engine shutdown, but we got here safely in the end.”
The birds are a common problem at Whenuapai.
Together with the Australian Navy, the Air Force had caught smugglers who were carrying around $280 million worth of hashish across the Indian Ocean.
“With the advanced sensors on board we can cover a huge amount of open ocean,” says Flt Lt McAlevey. “We can narrow it down to suspicious vessels and therefore call in allied and coalition frigates.”
The operation was part of a multinational campaign to disrupt drug smuggling in the Indian Ocean. The Defence Force says the profits from the smuggling are often used to fund terrorist organisations like al-Qaeda.
The waters between the Middle East and Africa have come known as the Hashish Highway, or The Smack Track.
“I think it is pretty effective,” says Royal Australian Navy commander Cath Hayes. “We have achieved a pretty good hit rate recently.”
It is not just drugs.
“There is a range of nefarious operations that go on. People-smuggling, drug trafficking, it could be something as simple as illegal fishing,” says New Zealand Defence Force Air Commodore Kevin McEvoy.
This crew is back, but their replacements are already in position, continuing the campaign against the smugglers.
Source: 3 News
