US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the United States will treat the Designated Terrorist Organisation (DTO) in the Caribbean exactly as it treated Al-Qaeda” and kill them. America has conducted a lethal kinetic strike on “a narco-trafficking vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organisation.”
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who reaffirmed the administration’s hardline stance against “narco-terrorism, made the announcement.
“Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on another narco-trafficking vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organisation (DTO) in the Caribbean,” Hegseth posted on X.
He said the vessel, “like EVERY OTHER,” was known by US intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and was carrying narcotics.
Three male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters, Hegseth said. “All three terrorists were killed, and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike.”
Hegseth accused the narco-terrorists of trying to “bring drugs to our shores to poison Americans at home — and they will not succeed.” He vowed the Department would treat them “EXACTLY how we treated Al-Qaeda.”
He added, “We will continue to track them, map them, hunt them, and kill them.”
The statement came a day after US President Donald Trump dismissed any plans to conduct strikes within Venezuela to curb drug trafficking in the region, clarifying that Washington’s operations were limited to international waters.
This followed reports suggesting that the US was considering targeting cocaine facilities and trafficking routes inside Venezuela. When asked about these reports, Trump said, “No, it’s not true.”
Last week, Hegseth had ordered the US Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier strike group, the USS Gerald R Ford, to move from Europe to the Caribbean — a move seen as part of the ongoing anti-narcotics campaign.
