A daring military operation in Afghanistan has seized heroin and drug-making chemicals with an estimated final street value of more than £50 million.
Some 700 British and Afghan troops were involved in Operation Diesel which captured four drugs factories in Helmand Province and disrupted facilities making improvised bombs.
Troops carried out raids in the notorious Sangin Valley which the Ministry of Defence described as the "Taliban heartland".
Defence Secretary John Hutton praised the bravery of British troops and said the drug seizures would starve the Taliban of funding and prevent drugs reaching UK streets.
Commander Task Force Helmand, Brigadier Gordon Messenger of the Royal Marines, described Operation Diesel as "a clinical precision strike" which had given a significant boost to the Afghan authorities in their fight against the drugs trade.
Operation Diesel involved Afghan Security Forces and British troops from 45 Commando Royal Marines, 42 Commando Group Royal Marines, 3 Commando Brigade's Reconnaissance Force, 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales Royal Regiment and the Armoured Support Group.
Sangin, a district with a population of around 50,000, is dominated by the Upper Sangin Valley, an area which has been a centre of enemy activity.
Operation Diesel, which took place between February 6 and 11, aimed to surprise enemy forces in the Sapwan Qualeh area, to disrupt insurgent and narcotics activity and to show that the Task Force and Afghan forces can strike with overpowering force.
British Forces from 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales Royal Regiment and the Armoured Support Group distracted the Taliban by feigning a move into an area to the north of the real targets.
When the true attacks took place, many enemy troops fled, abandoning weapons and drugs equipment.
