The Hashish Highway

July 13, 2009: An American P-3C patrol aircraft, in the Gulf of Aden, off Oman, spotted and identified a large dhow (an Arab sail boat). A nearby British warship intercepted and boarded the dhow, where they found ten tons of hashish (worth about $70 million on the street). The drugs were destroyed, along with some other equipment related to drug trafficking. The ship and its crew were then released, because British law did not cover arresting drug smugglers on the high seas. However, the drug shipment was apparently from Pakistan, and some of the proceeds of the sale were believed to be destined for one of the Taliban factions. There have been other drug seizures by the ships of the international piracy patrol, but this was the largest one this year. All that oil money in the Persian Gulf has created a large demand for recreational drugs.