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Warship sailor on drug-smuggling charge
18.08.09
A Royal Navy sailor appeared before magistrates today charged with smuggling 12kg of cocaine into Britain on a warship.
Teresa Matos was arrested when HMS Manchester docked in Plymouth, Devon on Monday, August 10.
The cocaine was allegedly found inside bags in her personal quarters on the ship.
The Angolan-born 36-year-old, of Contsworth Court, Gateshead, did not enter a plea to one charge of being concerned in smuggling drugs and was remanded in custody to next appear at Plymouth Magistrates Court on September 15.
A spokeswoman for the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) said three men have also been charged with drug smuggling in connection with the discovery.
The men, who have not been identified, appeared before Portsmouth Magistrates on August 14 and were also remanded in custody.
She said: "Following a search aboard HMS Manchester, a junior rating was discovered to be in possession of a quantity of suspected class A drugs.
"She was arrested by Royal Navy police and handed over to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs in Plymouth during a planned anchorage.
"The investigation was handed to SOCA, who subsequently arrested three civilians from the London area."
The ship was on route to its base in Portsmouth following a seven month deployment across the Atlantic and South Pacific.
The Type 42 destroyer had spent time in Cape Verde for counter-narcotics training with the island's coastguard and also visited America, the Falkland Islands, Brazil and Columbia.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said: "The MoD will cooperate fully with any investigation that involves service personnel.
"The Royal Navy demands the highest standard of conduct of its personnel, and anyone who falls short of that is dealt with robustly."
