Commendation for drug bust CO
Australia Day 2015: Lieutenant Commander Andrew Hough awarded a Commendation for Distinguished Service
By ANGELA THOMPSON
A Balgownie navy commander who helped extract more than half a tonne of heroin from Middle Eastern drug-smuggling vessels as part of Operation Slipper says morale aboard HMAS Melbourne soared following the seizures, and after a decision was made to explode, rather than bring to shore, two boats being run by pirates.
Finding drugs on Middle East missions is needle-in-a-haystack work that has yielded very few seizures for Australian naval forces in the past.
On January 26, Lieutenant Commander Andrew Hough receives a Commendation for Distinguished Service for his part in Melbourne’s noteworthy 2013/14 deployment, which resulted in the destruction of 575kg of heroin off Tanzania in February 2014.
Melbourne also seized 24kg of methamphetamines and two tonnes of cannabis resin; and intercepted nine suspected pirates on two boats off the coast of Somalia.
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Source: illawarramercury.com.au