Canadian warships deploy to Latin America for anti-drug-trafficking mission

Sailors on Operation Caribbe seize suspected contraband while HMCS Edmonton searches a field of jettisoned cargo in the eastern Pacific Ocean on April 8, 2023. (Canadian Armed Forces)

A pair of Canadian warships are heading to Central America to join the United States Coast Guard on a seven-week anti-drug-trafficking operation.

Coastal defence vessels HMCS Edmonton and HMCS Yellowknife departed Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt in B.C. on Monday evening with approximately 75 crewmembers.

The vessels are heading down the eastern Pacific coast where they will link up with U.S. authorities to locate and intercept vessels suspected of transporting drugs and other illicit goods through Latin America and the Caribbean Sea.

The Canadian vessels will carry U.S. Coast Guard personnel to conduct ship-boarding operations under the watch of maritime patrol aircraft.

"Together with our allies, we are achieving success in making the continent more secure from the threats posed by illicit drug trafficking," Rear-Admiral Christopher Robinson, commander of Canada's Maritime Forces Pacific and Joint Task Force Pacific, said in a statement Monday.

In years past, sailors on the deployment have seized millions of dollars worth of cocaine, including last April, when HMCS Edmonton and a pair of U.S. Coast Guard ships intercepted a vessel off Mexico carrying a 755-kilogram shipment of cocaine with an estimated value of $49.5 million.

Seven people were arrested aboard the vessel more than 300 kilometres off the Mexican coast. The suspects were surrendered to U.S. authorities and the seized boat, which the U.S. Coast Guard described as a "go-fast vessel," was destroyed at sea.

In February 2022, HMCS Yellowknife and its onboard U.S. law enforcement detachment responded to 21 suspected smuggling vessels, seizing and destroying more than 850 kilograms of cocaine.

Known as Operation Caribbe, the regular deployment of Canadian military vessels and aircraft to the region began in 2006 and includes partner nations from across Latin America and Europe.

In 2010, the mission was expanded with a joint memorandum between the U.S. and Canada that allows American law enforcement teams to operate from Canadian warships.

The Department of National Defence estimates the longstanding operation has led to the interception of more than 123 tonnes of cocaine since it began.