The United States has carried out its 17th deadly attack on a suspected drug trafficking ship, killing all three on board, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on X overnight.
The attack took place Thursday in international waters off the Caribbean, Hegseth said.
“As we have said before, boat attacks against narcoterrorists will continue until the poisoning of the American people stops,” Hegseth said in his social media post. “The ship was trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean and was hit in international waters. No US forces were injured in the attack and three male narcoterrorists, who were aboard the ship, were killed.”
Separately, six people were arrested and more than seven tons of cocaine were seized in the Atlantic Ocean “with no fatalities,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said in a post Friday morning.
Petro called it “one of the biggest days of seizures in my government, with the collaboration of our public security forces and the French authorities.”
The seizures were made on land and sea, according to Petro. The nationalities of those arrested are unknown, Petro said.
President Donald Trump has called Petro an “illegal drug dealer” who “does nothing to stop” drug production.
At least 70 people have been killed in attacks on ships since September 2.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks with senior military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Quantico, Virginia, Sept. 30, 2025.
Andrew Harnik/Reuters
On Sunday, the Trump administration provided more than a dozen Senate Republicans with a secret list of targets for its ongoing military campaign in the Caribbean Sea, suggesting that it was preparing for sustained operations against drug cartels and that it believed military strikes could withstand potential legal challenges.
“To all the narcoterrorists who threaten our homeland: if you want to stay alive, stop trafficking drugs. If you continue trafficking deadly drugs, we will kill you,” Hegseth said.
