28 MEDVEDYEV AND OTHERS v. FRANCE JUDGMENT flying its flag is engaged in illicit traffic in drugs” to request the cooperation of other States. It does not provide in general for States to request cooperation whenever they suspect a ship not flying their flag of such trafficking. The Court considers that Article 108 does not provide any legal basis for the action taken by the French authorities in this case. As Cambodia is not party to the Montego Bay Convention, it cannot have been acting under that Convention when it sent its diplomatic note of 7 June 2002. Nor did France’s request for cooperation from the Cambodian authorities fall within the scope of Article 108, as it was not based on France’s suspicion that a ship flying the French flag was engaged in drug trafficking. 85. This lacuna in Article 108 of the Montego Bay Convention vis-à-vis the fight against illicit trafficking in drugs is also reflected in the rest of the text: not only are the provisions concerning the fight against drug trafficking minimal – in comparison with those concerning piracy, for example, on which there are eight Articles, which lay down, inter alia, the principle of universal jurisdiction as an exception to the rule of the exclusive jurisdiction of the flag State – but fighting drug trafficking is not among the offences, listed in Article 110, suspicion of which gives rise to the right to board and inspect foreign vessels. Lastly, while the provisions of the Montego Bay Convention concerning illegal drug trafficking on the high seas appear to suggest that the issue was not a part of customary law when that Convention was signed, the Government have not shown that there has since been any constant practice on the part of the States capable of establishing the existence of a principle of customary international law generally authorising the intervention of any State which has reasonable grounds for believing that a ship flying the flag of another State is engaged in illicit traffic in drugs. 86. According to the Government, Article 110 of the Montego Bay Convention, which provides for a warship to be able to board a ship which refuses to fly its flag, is applicable in the instant case. 87. The Court notes that if at all, Article 110 would only be relevant to the present case in so far as paragraph 1 (d) refers to a ship “without nationality”. The case of a ship “refusing to show its flag” provided for in paragraph 1 (e) refers only to a ship that “is, in reality, of the same nationality as the warship”, which is not the case here. 88. Furthermore, as regards the nationality of the ship, the Court shares the view of the Chamber and the applicants that the Government’s arguments are based on a contradiction. It is an undisputed fact that the meeting of the frigate Lieutenant de vaisseau Le Hénaff and the Winner owed nothing to chance. The Winner was under the observation of the American, Spanish and Greek drug control agencies when the Central Office Against Illegal Drug Trafficking (“the OCRTIS”), which suspected it of transporting a large quantity of drugs for the European market, requested