Prince William's ship in £40m drugs raid

Prince William was involved in a drug raid yesterday when his ship, the Iron Duke, seized a large amount of cocaine in the Atlantic, north-east of Barbados.

He was flying in the frigate's Lynx helicopter, which was alerted by intelligence to look out for an ocean-going speedboat suspected of smuggling drugs to west Africa or Europe. US coastguard officers on board the British frigate boarded the speedboat and seized 900kg (about 2,000lb) of cocaine with a minimum street value of £40m, according to the Ministry of Defence. The boat, believed to have begun its voyage in the Caribbean, stopped when ordered to do so and its crew was detained by the coastguards.

The prince was one of six navy personnel on the Lynx when the boat was spotted, the MoD said. Other crew included a sniper and a pilot.

William, a future head of the armed forces, joined the Iron Duke on June 24 as part of a secondment to the navy. Though he joined the Household Cavalry, like Prince Harry, it was considered too great a risk to the heir to the throne - and fellow soldiers - to send him to Afghanistan. William was also awarded his "wings" after a four-month spell in the RAF.

The Iron Duke's mission includes intercepting drug smugglers and assisting with disaster relief in the event of a hurricane striking the Caribbean region.

The ship's commander, Mark Newland, said: "This is a fantastic start to HMS Iron Duke's north Atlantic deployment. To have had a direct impact on the flow of cocaine into Europe just four days after we arrived in theatre shows the benefit the Royal Navy can have in the area of maritime security and counter-drug operations."