Photo: DND

A B.C.-based navy ship has made a third significant drug seizure off the coast of Yemen and Oman in the Middle East.

Sailors on board the Esquimalt-based frigate HMCS Regina seized one and a half tonnes of hashish and 10.5 kilograms of heroin on Thursday, CTV News reports.

The Canadian warship has been patrolling the area known as the "hash highway" since March.

"There's normally not a lot of heroin that is trafficking through the Yemen area," Cmdr. Jake French told CTV News from on board the vessel.

Heroin is more usually smuggled along the "smack track" from Afghanistan to east Africa and then Europe.

The Regina's close-quarters combat team searched a flagless fishing boat, and found the drugs concealed under access panels hidden by a sheet of metal.

Earlier this month, the crew seized more than five and a half tonnes of hash in two separate searches.

The warship is due back in Esquimalt in August. 

– with files from CTV Vancouver Island