By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-09-28 16:46:59 | Updated at 2026-09-28 21:04:39
6 hours ago
Around 3,527 pounds of suspected cocaine was seized in a Caribbean Sea operation involving U.S. and Honduran partners.
The coordinated international maritime interdiction operation confiscated 55 bundles of suspected cocaine and detained four people from Honduras, the Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATFS) said in a Sept. 24 post on X.
The operation, in which the Armed Forces of Honduras took part, “struck a blow against transnational criminal networks,” according to the post, which was headlined “Big win in the Caribbean.”
JIATFS is a Florida-based
allianceof 13 domestic and 20 international partners that monitor and facilitate the interception of drug traffickers in air and maritime domains. The task force conducts surveillance activities in support of the U.S. Southern Command-led operations to disrupt and dismantle narco-terrorists operating across the Eastern Pacific and the Caribbean.
In another recent operation in the Caribbean involving JIATFS, crews from the Customs and Border Protection interdicted a vessel, recovering roughly 634 pounds of cocaine and detaining two Dominicans.
JIATFS was also part of two interdictions in which the U.S. Coast Guard seized $57 million worth of drugs, including 7,250 pounds of cocaine, in the Caribbean. The narcotics were offloaded at Port Everglades, Florida, the Coast Guard said in a Sept. 21 statement.
A White House drug control strategy report released in May said that transnational criminal organizations were using various types of boats to transport multi-ton quantities of cocaine through the Caribbean.
“This threat has led to a fundamental shift in the U.S. Government’s posture from a law enforcement-led mission to a security-focused campaign,” the report said.
“When directed by the President, U.S. forces take decisive action, including the use of force, against vessels and certain organizations with which the President has determined the United States is in an ongoing non-international armed conflict.”
The Trump administration has been carrying out military
strikesagainst drug trafficking vessels since September 2025 under Operation Southern Spear, which has attracted criticism.
In a Sept. 1 statement, the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner said that at least 223 individuals have been killed in U.S. military strikes in the Caribbean and the Pacific since September 2025.
“Drug trafficking is a law enforcement matter governed by international human rights law on the use of force. Calling it war does not make it one,” the United Nations said.
In December 2025, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson justified the attacks, arguing that they were in line with U.S. and international law.
“These actions have also been approved by the best military and civilian lawyers up and down the chain of command,” Wilson said.
In a Sept. 22 statement, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said that its Caribbean Division announced charges against 17 people allegedly linked to a drug trafficking group that used the U.S. mail system and the Luis Munoz Marín International Airport in Puerto Rico to smuggle cocaine into the United States.
DEA Caribbean Division Special Agent in Charge Michael Mayer said in the statement that drug traffickers will use every transportation route available to move narcotics, including through airports and maritime borders.
“DEA and our Homeland Security Task Force partners are committed to identifying and dismantling these networks from the organizers and recruiters to the individuals responsible for physically moving the drugs. Puerto Rico will not be used as a gateway for cocaine destined for communities across the United States,” Mayer said.
