US military strikes boat carrying drugs from Venezuela, Trump says

The US military attacked a vessel from Venezuela in the Caribbean on Tuesday that was carrying illegal drugs, officials said, in the first known operation since the Trump administration’s recent surge of warships to the region.

US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House: “We just, over the last few minutes, literally shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat, a lot of drugs in that boat.”

“And there’s more where that came from. We have a lot of drugs pouring into our country, coming in for a long time ... These came out of Venezuela,” Trump said. He said the Pentagon would soon be providing further details.

Asked to comment, a defence official confirmed the US military conducted a “precision strike against a drug vessel” but declined to elaborate on how the attack was carried out, what kind of drugs were being targeted or who was on board.

The official only said the vessel was “operated by a designated narco-terrorist organisation”.

“More information will be made available at a later time,” the official said.