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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that the United States military struck a boat alleged to be carrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea for the third time in a one-week span
Hegseth claimed that the ship belonged to the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, which President Donald Trump's administration had recently designated as a terrorist organization, in a post shared on his X account Friday (October 24) morning.
"Overnight, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea," Hegseth wrote, along with an "unclassifed" video. "The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics. Six male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters—and was the first strike at night. All six terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike. If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat Al-Qaeda. Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you."
Hegseth had previously confirmed a launched deadly strike against vessels alleged to be carrying drugs to the U.S. in the eastern Pacific Ocean, confirming that three male "narco-terrorists" were killed. Trump has publicly supported the military strikes in recent weeks, claiming the incidents have resulted in American lives being saved.
“Every boat that we knock out we save 25,000 American lives so every time you see a boat and you feel badly you say, ‘Wow, that’s rough;’ It is rough, but if you lose three people and save 25,000 people,” Trump said during a press conference at the White House last week.