Daily Express (London, UK) Royal correspondent Richard Palmer headlines "William's captured drug smugglers set to go free" atop a story which reveals widely-held suspicions that corrupt Venezuelan military officers are responsible for an increased flow of cocaine to markets in Europe and the United States. Palmer writes: "The drug smugglers captured in a dramatic Royal Navy operation involving Prince William are expected to be set free."
The article continues: The Prince was acting as a lookout in a Lynx helicopter off Barbados when his ship seized a powerboat carrying five men with a cargo of cocaine worth £40 million (about US$80 million). But the five have been handed over to authorities in Venezuela because the boat was registered there -- and experts fear they will promptly be released because so many officials are caught up in the international drugs trade.
Even more frustratingly for William and his colelagues on HMS Iron Duke, the cocaine is more than likely to be put on another boat to cross the Atlantic.
In the past, British drug-busting teams have found it difficult to trace what has happened to smugglers and their seixed cargoes after they have been handed over to the Venezuelans.
"There is a fairly widely-held belief that they are often released and that the drugs, which are supposed to be destroyed, are actually put back on boats and trafficked again," said one source. Up to half the cocaine sold in Britain is smuggled through Venezuela, mainly from Colombia.
(Venezuelan) Army officers are said to be queueing up to be posted to obscure bases on the Colombian frontier to enrich themselves in the cross-border trade.
William, 26, is spending five weeks on Iron Duke, a Portsmouth-based TYpe 23 frigate patrolling the Caribbean and north Atlantic in search of smugglers.
Even more frustratingly for William and his colelagues on HMS Iron Duke, the cocaine is more than likely to be put on another boat to cross the Atlantic.
In the past, British drug-busting teams have found it difficult to trace what has happened to smugglers and their seixed cargoes after they have been handed over to the Venezuelans.
"There is a fairly widely-held belief that they are often released and that the drugs, which are supposed to be destroyed, are actually put back on boats and trafficked again," said one source. Up to half the cocaine sold in Britain is smuggled through Venezuela, mainly from Colombia.
(Venezuelan) Army officers are said to be queueing up to be posted to obscure bases on the Colombian frontier to enrich themselves in the cross-border trade.
William, 26, is spending five weeks on Iron Duke, a Portsmouth-based TYpe 23 frigate patrolling the Caribbean and north Atlantic in search of smugglers.
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