US sinks third alleged Ecuador drug gang boat this week

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States (US) military has sunk a third boat belonging to the Ecuadoran gang Los Choneros in the Pacific Ocean, US Southern Command said. Thursday's operation is part of a broader campaign that has also included strikes on alleged drug-running boats that have left more than 200 people dead since last year. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) "successfully interdicted a vessel operating as a floating refuelling station in support of illicit at-sea drug trafficking operations in international waters of the Eastern Pacific," it wrote on X.

"Intelligence confirmed the vessel was operating in support of the Los Choneros violent narco-terrorist organisation," it said. An unspecified number of individuals aboard the boat had been removed and "safely transferred" to authorities in Ecuador before the sinking, it added. A helicopter and a boat carrying military personnel intercepted the vessel, which was subsequently destroyed in an explosion that sent a massive plume of smoke into the air, video footage posted by US forces showed.

This marks the third US sinking of vessels allegedly belonging to Los Choneros, which has ties to Mexico's notorious Sinaloa cartel, since last Friday. Ecuador's Navy on Friday said it had assisted US operations by receiving 28 crew members from two vessels identified as Conquista II and OM2. US President Donald Trump's administration has not provided definitive evidence that the vessels it has been targeting in the Pacific and the Caribbean are involved in drug trafficking.

Human Rights Watch in July reported that at least eight people had gone missing after US forces attacked three other Ecuadoran vessels between January and March. Ecuador's right-wing President Daniel Noboa is one of Trump's closest allies in Latin America. In March, Ecuador joined the US leader's "Shield of the Americas," a Washington-led coalition to combat drug trafficking in the region.