One moment, a vessel is bobbing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The next, it erupts in a violent explosion, sending a massive plume of smoke billowing into the sky.
Dramatic military footage captures U.S. forces destroying a suspected drug-trafficking support vessel during a September 5 operation in the eastern Pacific, near Ecuador.
But this wasn’t an attack on an occupied boat.
According to U.S. Southern Command, the vessels formed a “multi-vessel floating refueling station,” allegedly supplying boats involved in smuggling narcotics across the region.
In the footage, a military inflatable approaches a larger civilian vessel lined with fuel containers. A Marine Corps helicopter hovers nearby as personnel board the boat.
Then, after everyone is evacuated, the fireworks begin.
An explosion rips through the vessel, sending smoke skyward. Additional footage provides another look at the operation.
The mission was supported by sailors and Marines aboard the USS San Antonio, according to The New York Times. Military helicopters also attacked accompanying support vessels, which were subsequently sunk.
Importantly, nobody was killed or injured, a U.S. official told the Times. Those removed from the main vessel were transferred to Ecuadorian authorities.
The military said intelligence linked the boats to Los Choneros, an Ecuadorian criminal organization designated a foreign terrorist group by Washington.
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“We are taking decisive action to dismantle and destroy sophisticated logistics networks used by narco-terrorists to traffic drugs and spread violence throughout the Western Hemisphere,” stated SOUTHCOM Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan.
He added: “This operation demonstrated the elite capabilities and precision of Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere, which is on watch in the region to apply total systemic friction on these networks.”
Ecuador has supported the broader campaign.
“This is work carried out through international cooperation,” Interior Minister John Reimberg told Reuters.
However, relatives of crews detained during earlier operations have disputed allegations of drug trafficking, claiming some vessels were fishing boats.
The September 5 mission was the fourth similar interdiction, according to the Times, part of an expanding U.S. military campaign against suspected maritime drug trafficking.
And judging by the footage, the military isn’t taking any half-measures.
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