Summary

NAME: CARIB DRUGS 20071027I TAPE: EF07/1289 IN_TIME: 10:41:56:19 DURATION: 00:01:07:01 SOURCES: MOD DATELINE: Caribbean Sea - 26 Oct 2007 RESTRICTIONS: SHOTLIST 1. Various of sea boat approaching HMS Portland after drugs bust 2. Close of packages on sea boat, zoom out to wide 3. Officer carrying sack containing packages aboard HMS Portland 4. Wide of deck with packages being lined up 5. More sacks being carried on deck 6. Packages being carried STORYLINE A British warship seized 3 metric tons (3.3 tons) of cocaine from a Venezuelan fishing boat in the north Atlantic, the Ministry of Defence said Saturday. The ministry said a helicopter from the Royal Navy frigate HMS Portland spotted the suspicious vessel during a routine patrol Friday off Venezuela's coast. Navy sailors spotted the boat's crew throwing packages overboard - later found to contain half a ton of cocaine. Sailors and Royal Marines boarded the ship alongside a US Coast Guard team and found another 2 tons of the drug. The fishing boat was being escorted back to its home country, officials said. HMS Portland has been based in the North Atlantic and Caribbean for the past five months. It is due to return to its home port of Plymouth, southwest England, by the end of the year.