28/08/2008

18 Royal Navy Sailors Test Positive For Cocaine

Eighteen Royal Navy sailors have tested positive for cocaine, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reported.

The crewmen tested positive for the class A drug during routine testing onboard HMS Liverpool, which is currently deployed in the South Atlantic.

The drug find is believed to be the biggest in the Navy's history.

An MoD spokeswoman said: "The Royal Navy does not tolerate misuse of drugs by its personnel and internal action is underway against all 18 individuals.

"Notwithstanding the numbers involved in this single unprecedented incident which is being treated very seriously, it has not affected the ship's ability to do its job."

She said the incident must be placed in context as drug misuse is almost 20 times more common in civilian workplaces than in the Navy.

Earlier this week five soldiers from the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery regiment also failed a routine drugs test.

(CD/JM)

Related UK National News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

15 September 2006
Royal Navy intercept £500m Caribbean drugs haul
Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship RFA Wave Ruler has swooped on a Caribbean drug smuggling boat - in one of the biggest operations yet. The tanker, supported by a Royal Navy Lynx helicopter, stopped up to five tonnes of cocaine - with an estimated street value of £500 million - thought to be heading for the streets of Europe and the UK.
18 September 2009
Stamps Mark Naval Heritages
Weapons Engineer, Sandy Jardine - pictured on HMS Daring - the Royal Navy's newest, most powerful destroyer, lent a hand to launch Royal Mail's Royal Navy Uniforms Special Stamps. He was helping out as Royal Mail charted over two centuries of Royal Navy uniforms on six new stamps just issued.
04 July 2014
Queen Names UK's Newest And Biggest Royal Navy Aircraft
The Queen has named the UK's new Royal Navy Aircraft at a ceremony in Fife's Rosyth. The vessel is the most powerful aircraft carrier ever built for a British fleet.
04 September 2012
£1.2m Royal Navy Pay Error
Over 400 Royal Navy Personnel have been overpaid following an error by the Ministry of Defence. The MoD confirmed it has arranged for repayments to be made. Some 423 members and former members of the Navy had been affected over several years. The £1.2m will be paid back. Repayments range from £17,000 to £9.
14 March 2007
Navy sailor jailed for colleague's rape
A Royal Navy Chief Petty Officer has been jailed for five years for raping a female colleague on board a warship. Chief Petty Officer Phillip Coates, 30, from Devon, was found guilty of raping the 24-year-old rating while at sea in the Mediterranean last year, by a court martial panel in Portsmouth last week.