CNN- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Sunday that the US conducted a strike Friday on a ship that American intelligence officials believed was involved in illegal drug trafficking in the Caribbean.
Hegseth wrote in a post on X that the vessel was affiliated with a Colombian terrorist organization and had “substantial amounts of narcotics” on board. He said the three men on the ship were all killed and no US forces were harmed.
This is the seventh known strike in a series of recent attacks by the US military on vessels that the Trump administration says are involved in drug trafficking.
It comes days after another strike on an alleged drug boat that CNN reported appeared to be the first time an attack did not kill everyone on board.
“These cartels are the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere, using violence, murder and terrorism to impose their will, threaten our national security and poison our people,” Hegseth wrote.
“The United States military will treat these organizations like the terrorists they are—they will be hunted, and killed, just like Al Qaeda.”
The strikes are a part of the Trump administration’s hardening stance against South American countries involved in smuggling illicit drugs into the US.
The president recently authorized the CIA to operate in Venezuela and has been weighing military action inside of the country as part of a pressure campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro.
Trump has also clashed publicly with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who accused the US last week of murdering an innocent Colombian national during one of its Caribbean ship strikes.
Trump announced Sunday he would be canceling all US payments and subsidies to the country.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
