Sailors test positive for cocaine on Navy ship fighting drug runners

Eighteen sailors in a Royal Navy warship have tested positive for a class A drug, the Ministry of Defence said today.

The crewmen were caught during routine testing on board HMS Liverpool, which is currently deployed in the South Atlantic.

An MoD spokeswoman said the drug involved was cocaine and internal disciplinary action was being taken against the 18.

The drug find is believed to be the biggest in the Navy's history.

It comes after five soldiers from the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery were dismissed for taking cocaine and eight from the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers were found to have traces of cocaine and cannabis during a compulsory drug test last month.

Liverpool is a Type 42 destroyer whose duties in the South Atlantic have included combating drug smuggling.

The MoD spokeswoman said the test had been carried out after the crew had a "run ashore" on a break in Brazil.

A senior Royal Navy source told The Sun: "The idea of a coked-up rating on board a warship with access to such powerful weapons does not bear thinking about."