Officials in the Dominican Republic announced that they seized approximately 1,000 kilograms of cocaine from a speedboat recently targeted by a U.S. airstrike in the southern Caribbean.
During a press conference, local authorities revealed that the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD) and the Dominican Navy confiscated 377 packages of suspected cocaine about 80 nautical miles south of Vita Island, part of the Dominican territory.
The speedboat was reportedly laden with drugs and headed toward Dominican waters, intending to use the country as a transit point to deliver the cargo to the U.S. As the DNCD stated, this operation was based on intelligence reports.
Dominican officials noted that the operation was conducted in close collaboration with the U.S. Southern Command and the Joint Interagency Task Force.
The DNCD emphasized that this marked a historic first in collaborative efforts against narcoterrorism in the Caribbean between the Dominican Republic and the United States.
The drug-related operations stemmed from an announcement by President Trump regarding a third strike on a Caribbean vessel. He remarked that the vessel was involved in efforts to “poison Americans” along a notorious drug trafficking route.
In his remarks, Trump confirmed that the strike eliminated three male narcoterrorists aboard the boat, which was in international waters, and noted that no U.S. troops were harmed in the operation.
Trump had previously ordered similar strikes in the region on September 2 and September 15, as part of broader efforts against fentanyl trafficking. He also linked the vessel to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States. According to the U.S., these operations have resulted in a total of 17 casualties.
However, Venezuelan authorities contested that the ship targeted during the September 2 strike did not contain gang members.
This military action drew criticism from some Democratic senators, including Adam Schiff from California and Tim Kaine from Virginia, who recently proposed resolutions under the War Powers Act to prevent U.S. forces from launching strikes on boats without Congressional authorization.
“Only Congress has the authority to declare war,” Schiff stated. He emphasized that while both he and the administration share concerns about drug trafficking, engaging in such military actions without legal basis risks dragging the U.S. into unnecessary conflicts that could foster hostility towards its citizens.
