US coastguard seizes drugs worth more than $30m in Gulf of Oman

Glen Harris ship involved in counter-narcotics operations in the region since early 2022

The American cutter Glen Harris during the raid. Photo: US Naval Central Forces Command Public Affairs

The US Coastguard seized heroin and methamphetamine worth more than $30 million from a fishing boat in the Gulf of Oman on Monday.

The crew of the Glen Harris found 580kg of methamphetamine and 35kg of heroin on the fishing vessel in international waters, the navy's Combined Task Force 150 said.

The task force has seized illegal narcotics worth $200 million in street value so far this year, it added.

The Glenn Harris cutter, a Sentinel Class ship, is designed for search and rescue but also interception of drug-smuggling boats.

It can sail at up to 52kph and, with its red and white coastguard paint scheme, resembles a civilian boat but comes armed with a remote-controlled, 25mm cannon capable of firing 200 explosive shells a minute.

Monday’s interception is not the ship's first. Last year, the Glen Harris intercepted a fishing trawler, also in the Gulf of Oman, and recovered drugs that the crew had thrown overboard.

The US Navy says the ship, which began operations in the Middle East last year, is based at the headquarters of the 5th fleet in Bahrain.

The naval force is part of a 34-nation alliance called the Combined Maritime Forces, involving ships from Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, as well as the UK's Royal Navy and ships from France, Australia and Germany, among others.

The Sentinel Class can operate well into the Gulf of Oman, being designed to patrol for up to five days over 4,500km without the need for resupply. It is fitted with special reconnaissance equipment and can send and receive messages over an encrypted US Navy network.

Despite such long-range capability, the US Navy says the boats are designed to patrol coastal regions, making them a threat to small vessels trying to smuggle drugs to remote shores.

Last month, the USS Paul Hamilton seized about 1,800kg of heroin, methamphetamine and hashish from a fishing boat crewed by five Iranian nationals.

In January, the Emlen Tunnell — another Sentinel Class ship — captured an even bigger haul of 4,000kg of drugs.

Analysts say that some of this drug trade is used to fund the Houthi militia operating in Yemen.