WASINGTON, October 30. /TASS/. The US military struck a vessel allegedly used to smuggle drugs in international waters in the Pacific, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said.
"Earlier today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on yet another narco-trafficking vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) in the Eastern Pacific," he wrote on his X page. "This vessel, like all the others, was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics. Four male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel—and killed—during the strike, which was conducted in international waters. No U.S. forces were harmed in this strike."
The New York Times reported in August that US President Donald Trump had secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels. Following this, the United States deployed additional forces to the Caribbean and began delivering strikes on boats carrying drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.