Kiwi ship trade routes kept safe from smugglers

Commodore Rodger Ward was the leader of task force carrying out a 6-month operation within Middle Eastern waters. 

The Royal New Zealand Navy worked in close quarters with personnel from around the world, including Australia, Canada, India, Singapore and the United States.  

Task Force 150 was one of five stationed in Bahrain with the mission of preventing and creating long term disruptions for international drug smuggling operations. 

However, Ward told Metronews that this mission wasn’t just to ensure trade routes for New Zealand, but also a way to strengthen ties with international allies.  

Ward described how upholding maoritanga and other local kaupapa helped the diverse navy groups present on the mission connect quicker that expected.“We told the stories of Maui and the fishhook as sort of an example of our values, and within a week he [the commander of the Indian Navy unit] was able to recite it back to me.” 

“And they brought their own culture as well. The beauty of the team that we put together is that they’re all sailors, so they all come with a common value around the sea... mixing the culture was very easy.” 

Culture and values is what Ward believes built a strong sense of comradery quickly for Task Force 150, which he says helped immensely on their very first mission out at sea. 

At the beginning of their mission in March of 2025, the Royal New Zealand Navy hosted partnership talks for India and New Zealand. During the event, the Task Force was notified of a suspicious looking ship that was off the usual smugglers route.  

Without proper Kiwi resources in the area, Ward and the rest of the force had to rely on the Indian Navy to respond to the tip off. 

“Within an hour notice... they put up continuous air surveillance and found the vessel 600 miles from where Te Kaha [navy ship] was. It’s like looking for a needle in fields of haystacks.” 

“When Te Kaha came up beyond the horizon, the vessel was surprised and ditched all of its drugs... The beauty was it was our first day of operation and we were able to pull all that off in 24 hours.” 

As the comradery grew, assumedly so did the efficiency of their opperations.  

Ward describes other missions, where their success caused smugglers to drastically alter their routes into unexpected waters to avoid navy operations, or stop their works entirely. 

One of their stopped shipments turned out to be an entire year’s worth of narcotics for a local cartel, according to Ward. “While the number you see on the waters is quite high, the disruptive effect is even higher; which we think is 3 or 4 times as high.” 

Disruption was the goal of the operation, which according to intelligence reports is what they achieved after concluding their operations in June 2025. 

Ward says that Navy in the region they aren’t able to innovate outside the law, which is a roadblock military are forced to adhere to. However, he’s optimistic that their disruption efforts created a greater risk/reward divide for future smugglers.