HMS Monmouth has a new recruit in the fight against drugs traffickers – a springer spaniel named Caspar.

The dog is trained to collar smugglers by searching out narcotics, and has joined the Type 23 frigate in the Caribbean to help stem the flow of smuggled drugs through the region.

Monmouth has been in the area on Atlantic Patrol Task (North) or APT(N) since February, and Caspar has been given a leading role in assisting the ship’s boarding teams during searches of large ships – smugglers have the choice of a vast number of compartments in which the drugs can be hidden.

The dog undertook his first operational boarding on April 13, when Monmouth investigated a fishing vessel in the Eastern Caribbean. Although only a small quantity of cocaine was found, Caspar demonstrated his unique ability.

Caspar – officially HMS Monmouth’s Counter Drugs Operations sniffer-dog – joined the warship in Trinidad.

The spaniel and his handler, Cpl Daniel Fiddy, are part of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, and Caspar was trained recently at the Defence Animal Centre at Melton Mowbray.

Monmouth is his first job, although Daniel has been an Army dog handler for five years, clocking up deployments in Bosnia, Poland, Northern Ireland and Germany.

Daniel has trained Caspar around the upper deck every day, and the pooch has his own kennel in the officers’ accommodation – and even a dog-sized lifejacket.

Cpl Fiddy said: “It’s like a sixth sense with Caspar.

“He knows exactly how the drugs traffickers think. He homes in on exactly where the drugs are hidden, seeming to know the workings of their minds in hiding the drugs in the most inaccessible of places.

“In Caspar’s first operation it wasn’t a vast haul of drugs that was found – but the entire ship’s company is extremely proud of him.

“A man’s best friend is his dog, they say – and when you’ve got Caspar around, you’re pretty sure something’s going to be found.

“When we’re homing in on a suspect ship Caspar keeps an eagle eye from the gun deck, eager to get out there and do his job.

“It’s a dangerous job we all do because you never know if there’s a trap waiting for you, hidden explosives as a booby trap or a gang of gunmen there protecting the drugs haul.

“We take al the necessary precautions – and Caspar is worth his weight in gold.

“Caspar certainly enjoys his food after an operation. You can see he’s working on the adrenalin, just like all of us.”