Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

US military drone strike on drug 'submersible' in Caribbean leaves survivors, official confirms
Fox News ^ | 10/16/25 | Jasmine Baehr, Lucas Y. Tomlinson

Posted on 10/17/2025 5:08:45 AM PDT by Libloather

A U.S. military drone strike in the Caribbean on a drug smuggling vessel Thursday left two to three survivors, a U.S. official tells Fox News.

The partially submerged vessel, described by the source as "big," was operating in international waters when it was hit.

The U.S. military launched search and rescue assets, including a rescue helicopter, but it is not clear if any of the survivors were rescued, the official said.

The extent of their injuries was not immediately known, the official added.

As Reuters first reported, Thursday's incident marks the first known instance of survivors since U.S. forces began its campaign of lethal strikes against suspected drug boats.

The drone-fired strike marked at least the sixth known incident in a quiet but intensifying U.S. military campaign targeting drug boats.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Local News; Military/Veterans; Outdoors; Travel
KEYWORDS: caribbean; cartels; drone; dronestrike; drugs; official; smuggling; sub; submersible; survivors
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-50 next last
To: redfreedom

Has anyone seen what they are using to sink these boats? I have seen nothing on the platforms or the munitions.


21 posted on 10/17/2025 6:08:09 AM PDT by phormer phrog phlyer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

Oh, boy...the ambulance chasers and ACLU will be all over these guys.


22 posted on 10/17/2025 6:08:14 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Libloather
I wonder what happens to the sealed bags of drugs that we see floating away after these air strikes?

If they follow the tides and eventually hit land, many will get back into circulation.

I'm all for hitting these speed boats but should we use incendiary bombs to burn all that crap up before if floats away?

23 posted on 10/17/2025 6:11:52 AM PDT by USS Alaska (NUKE THE MOOSELIMB TERRORIST SAVAGES)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

...Because we want to convict you and send you to prison for LIFE!

24 posted on 10/17/2025 6:12:45 AM PDT by jerod (Nazis were essentially Socialist in Hugo Boss uniforms... Get over it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nikos1121

Its another brilliant move. Trump knows whatever he does , the left will screech. So what does be do? Kill drug international terrorists/drug dealers. Now democrats have allied themselves with drug dealers to spite Trump. Another 80-20 issue the democrats have sunk their teeth into.


25 posted on 10/17/2025 6:20:21 AM PDT by MrRelevant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: The Louiswu

A PBY Catalina. My uncle was a flying chief.


26 posted on 10/17/2025 6:28:52 AM PDT by Mouton (There is a new sheriff and deputy in town now!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: V_TWIN

We have captured these things before.


27 posted on 10/17/2025 6:28:59 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: redfreedom

fly the stuff over in drones. Small packages but then drones aren’t that expensive.


28 posted on 10/17/2025 6:30:39 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: phormer phrog phlyer

It has been reported that MQ-9 Reapers with Hellfire missiles have been deployed for counter-drug trafficking in the Caribbean. Spotted in Puerto Rico.


29 posted on 10/17/2025 6:36:15 AM PDT by jjotto ("...saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau...")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: V_TWIN
it will shut the doubters like rand paul up once and for all.

And his pimps on FR.

30 posted on 10/17/2025 6:48:26 AM PDT by LouAvul (Galatians: proof that "dispensationalism" in any form is false doctrine. Salvation is only in Jesus.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: V_TWIN

The drug trade is fueled by stupid American users and evil politicians.


31 posted on 10/17/2025 6:50:16 AM PDT by hoosierham (Freedom isnt free)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

Trump is really making it a pain in the ass for drug runners. He seals the Southern Border, so mules now have to use crossings, subject to search, he’s likely shooting down any drones crossing the border (we got a lot of practice on that in Ukraine), and he’s intercepting large-scale drug running operations.

The only downside is that if he keeps this up, the Cartels might get mad at him (just imitating our usual hand-wringers here!).


32 posted on 10/17/2025 6:55:53 AM PDT by BobL (Trusting one's doctor is the #1 health mistake one can make.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: V_TWIN

Naro-submarine capture stories are plenty around the internet.

https://insightcrime.org/news/under-radar-what-hundreds-ofnarco-sub-seizures-tell-us-about-global-cocaine-routes/


33 posted on 10/17/2025 6:58:33 AM PDT by jjotto ("...saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau...")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Brian Griffin

[A small skirmish occurred between British and Chinese warships in the Kowloon Estuary on 4 September 1839. After almost a year, the British government decided, in May 1840, to send a military expedition to impose reparations for the financial losses experienced by opium traders in Canton and to guarantee future security for the trade. On 21 June 1840, a British naval force arrived off Macao and moved to bombard the port of Dinghai. In the ensuing conflict, the Royal Navy used its superior ships and guns to inflict a series of decisive defeats on Chinese forces.

The war was concluded by the Treaty of Nanking (Nanjing) in 1842, the first of the Unequal treaties between China and Western powers. The treaty ceded the Hong Kong Island and surrounding smaller islands to Britain, and established five cities as treaty ports open to Western traders: Shanghai, Canton, Ningbo, Fuzhou, and Xiamen (Amoy).]


The narrative around the war always leaves out a very important point. Opium was a legal product worldwide, viewed as just another recreational product much like alcohol or tobacco. Both the US and Britain had large numbers of recreational users, in the form of laudanum aka tincture of opium. Laudanum (frequently mentioned in horse operas, including Tombstone) was used to sedate balky children, treat diarrhea and formed an indispensable part of numerous patent medicines.

The laissez-faire attitude towards narcotics in the West did not change for a century. In the US, drug possession and sale were penalized with substantial prison time only after Drug Prohibition (aka the Harrison Act) in 1914. Until 1905, Coca Cola contained cocaine extract.

Even the Wikipedia extract contains a favorite Chinese term - unequal treaty - to describe the outcomes of the wars. All war outcomes are like that. Winners impose terms. It’s obvious what they’re doing. Losers getting terms imposed on them is fine, especially losers in wars against China, but China getting the short end is a crime against nature, or something.


34 posted on 10/17/2025 7:08:48 AM PDT by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: one guy in new jersey

17 dead and 39 wounded on the USS Cole would support taking such action to keep these boats from their intended rounds. And the Cartels want to declare war? On this administration? And millions will say, we voted for this.


35 posted on 10/17/2025 7:18:40 AM PDT by healy61
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: healy61

In a way an attack on the US DEA by a Cartel may be the excuse the Trump Administration is hoping for.
Especially IF US government employees were killed.

This would give the political coverage to declare all out war on the Cartels. If Mexico, Columbia, Bolivia, Venezuela don’t like that, then too bad.


36 posted on 10/17/2025 7:42:56 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Libloather
at least the sixth known incident in a quiet but intensifying U.S. military campaign targeting drug boats

That could explain why my fentanyl is getting so expensive.

37 posted on 10/17/2025 7:49:25 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: one guy in new jersey

But, but, didn’t they as citizens of the world deserve an international criminal court hearing with due process and a fair and U.S. taxpayer legal defence?
/lib-mode-off


38 posted on 10/17/2025 7:54:17 AM PDT by epluribus_2 (!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

If new reports are true: the supply of drug boats will be drying up fast, along with the associated shore operations, manufacturing, and distribution centers. Not to mention some one snapping up the $50,000,000 bounty on Maduro’s head.


39 posted on 10/17/2025 8:14:38 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

Trump gave a press conference a couple days ago. A panty-waist reporter asked “Why can’t we just capture these boats.” Trump’s reply was spot-on perfect (paraphrasing): “We’ve done that for 30 years and it does not work. It’s time for something new.”

When do we EVER hear government people admitting that their approach does not work and why keep repeating it? Why not try a new approach? I LOVE that he said that. Man, do I LOVE that.

I think that’s the first time in my life somebody in government has said “what we are doing does not work.”

Now apply that to welfare, SNAP, EBT, AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) and TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), etc., that have done nothing but create multi-generational public “assistance” dependency.


40 posted on 10/17/2025 8:26:50 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-50 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson