HMS Argyll seized more than 200kg of cocaine with an estimated street value of $15 million only a day after leaving Bermuda, where the ship had been assisting with the clean-up after Hurricane Gonzalo.

After spending four days in Bermuda, the Royal Navy ship was returning to the Caribbean yesterday when she encountered a suspect yacht in the North Atlantic about 150 miles south of the Island.

The yacht was detected by the ship’s Lynx Helicopter and then closed by the frigate for a subsequent board-and-search operation. The search yielded several bales of cocaine weighing in at more than 200kg.

Governor George Fergusson said that while it was too early to be sure of the destination of the drugs, there was a fair chance that some of it was intended for Bermuda.

“The ship and her crew appear to have done us a remarkable double service,” he said.

HMS Argyll’s commanding officer Commander Paul Hammond said: “I am most proud of my ship’s company. We put our all into helping Bermuda after Hurricane Gonzalo, so to sail and immediately conduct a slick interception of a drug smuggling vessel has taken dedication and the utmost professionalism.”

As part of her counter-narcotics operations with partner nations, HMS Argyll carries a US Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET).

To conduct the board-and-search of the suspect yacht, members of the LEDET and the ship’s crew were launched in the ship’s boats. The search operation revealed the presence of drugs hidden throughout the yacht and the two crew members were taken into custody.

The counter-narcotics work, which is HMS Argyll’s second drugs seizure after a $35 million seizure in August, is part of Operation Martillo, a 15-nation collaborative effort to deny transnational criminal organisations air and maritime access to the shore regions of Central America and focus on putting a stop to the movement of illegal drugs from South America.