Navy ship makes African heroin bust

Australian warship HMAS Newcastle has seized 139 kilograms of heroin from a smuggling boat in a high seas bust off the coast of Africa.

This is Newcastle's sixth drug seizure during operations in the Middle East in eight weeks, taking the Australian navy haul to more than $2 billion worth of drugs destroyed in the last two years.

"That's an extraordinary impact on the funding of terrorist organisations which is where much of these illegal drug profits end up," said chief of joint operations Vice Admiral David Johnston.