Newly declassified Pentagon images reveal suspected drug-smuggling vessels, some laden with apparent narcotics, speeding across open waters under U.S. military surveillance, as the department issues a stark warning to traffickers. Nearly a year after the commencement of strikes against suspected drug-trafficking vessels under the Trump administration’s Operation Southern Spear, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson reaffirmed the unwavering message: ‘if you traffic deadly illicit narcotics and threaten the American people, we hunt you down, we will find you, and we will kill you.’ This operation has reportedly carried out 67 strikes, disrupting trafficking networks, forcing adaptations from smugglers, and neutralizing dangerous narcoterrorists. Recent operations include a strike on August 25th where four alleged drug smugglers were killed aboard a fast boat in the Caribbean, confirmed by U.S. Southern Command to be actively involved in narco-trafficking, and a prior strike in the Eastern Pacific that resulted in two fatalities. General Francis L. Donovan of Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere stated, ‘We will hunt, disrupt, and defeat these narco-terrorist networks,’ emphasizing SOUTHCOM’s resolve to neutralize cartel terror. The U.S. military’s campaign against these vessels, described by President Trump as an ‘armed conflict’ with Latin American cartels, aims to stem the flow of drugs into American communities and combat fatal overdoses, with potential extensions of these operations onto land through agreements with allied nations like Colombia, Guatemala, and Honduras, though some agreements remain contested.
Adapted from: Latest Political News on Fox News
