US issues BIG statement on strikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels

United States president Donald Trump.

Following a deadly kinetic attack on “a narco-smuggling ship operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) in the Caribbean,” US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said America would treat them “the same way we treated Al Qaeda” and kill them. The announcement came from U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who reaffirmed the administration’s tough stance against “narco-terrorism.” In a post on

He said that “like EVERYONE” the ship was known by US intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was passing through a known narcotics smuggling route, and was carrying narcotics. Hegseth said that there were three male narco-terrorists on the ship during the attack in international waters. “All three terrorists were killed in this attack and no US forces were harmed.”

Hegseth accused narco-terrorists of “trying to bring drugs to our shores to poison Americans at home, and they will not succeed.” He promised that the department would treat them “EXACTLY the way we treated Al Qaeda.” “We will continue to track, map, hunt and kill them,” he added.

The statement came a day after US President Donald Trump rejected plans to attack Venezuela to disrupt drug trafficking in the region and declared that Washington’s operations were limited to international waters. This follows reports suggesting the US is considering targeting cocaine facilities and smuggling routes within Venezuela. When asked about these reports, Trump said, “No, it’s not true.”

Last week, Hegseth ordered the USS Gerald R Ford, the US Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier strike group, to be moved from Europe to the Caribbean, a move seen as part of the ongoing anti-narcotics campaign. Earlier, US Senator Lindsey Graham warned that ground attacks on Venezuela were a “real possibility”, pointing to a potential increase in Washington’s actions against “drug trafficking” networks in Latin America. “President Trump told me yesterday that he plans to brief members of Congress on potential future military operations against Venezuela and Colombia when he returns from Asia,” Graham told CBS News.

Meanwhile, the United States has continued to launch airstrikes on boats allegedly smuggling drugs in the Caribbean and Pacific in recent weeks. A recent airstrike in the Eastern Pacific targeted a boat carrying drugs, killing four people, Hegseth said. This was the 14th attack since early September and the 15th boat destroyed; The number of deaths in these operations increased to at least 61. The United Nations had called on the US to immediately stop such airstrikes and prevent “extrajudicial killings of people”.

“More than 60 people have been reported killed in a series of attacks by US armed forces against boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific since early September, under conditions that find no justification in international law,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said. he said. “These attacks and their increasing human cost are unacceptable. The United States must stop such attacks and take all necessary measures to prevent the extrajudicial execution of the people on these boats, regardless of the crime alleged against them,” Turk said. he said.

(Except for the title, this news has not been edited by the DNA team and is published from ANI news agency).