THIS is the moment a US military drone obliterates a suspected drug smuggling boat in the dead of night.
The fiery explosion lit up the Caribbean Sea as three alleged “narcoterrorists” were killed instantly.
Unclassified infrared footage, posted by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on X, shows the vessel locked in a missile’s crosshairs before it’s hit and erupts into a blazing inferno.
Fragments were seen scattering across the waves before sinking beneath the surface.
Hegseth confirmed the strike was carried out “at the direction of President Trump,” marking the 15th such operation since September in the administration’s war on drug cartels now treated as terrorist organisations “exactly like Al-Qaeda.”
He wrote: “Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on another narco-trafficking vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) in the Caribbean.
“Three male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters.
“All three terrorists were killed, and no US forces were harmed.”
Hegseth added bluntly: “These narco-terrorists are bringing drugs to our shores to poison Americans at home — and they will not succeed.
“We will continue to track them, map them, hunt them, and kill them.”
The attack comes amid growing international alarm.
On Friday, UN rights chief Volker Türk urged Washington to halt the bombings, warning that “more than 60 people have been killed” since early September “in circumstances that find no justification in international law.”
Accusing the US of conducting extrajudicial killings, Türk said: “These attacks and their mounting human cost are unacceptable.”
Trump has repeatedly defended the strikes, calling them a “necessary escalation” to stem the flow of narcotics into the United States.
The fresh assault also comes as US warships loaded with Marines inch dangerously close to Venezuela, amid fears the anti-cartel campaign could soon spill into open conflict with dictator Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
New satellite images show the USS Iwo Jima, carrying 1,600 Marines, patrolling just 124 miles from Venezuela, alongside two destroyers.
The troops have been conducting live-fire drills in a show of force that has rattled Caracas.
Trump has been massing ships, jets, and thousands of troops in the Caribbean for weeks, with officials saying the buildup could reach a tipping point “in days or even hours.”
Meanwhile, the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, is joining the operation – bringing its 90 warplanes and 5,000 sailors into the theater.
With that, nearly 14 percent of America’s naval power will be stationed in the region.
The Pentagon insists the mission targets “illicit actors and activities that compromise US safety and prosperity.”
But speculation is mounting that Venezuelan military sites could be next on the list.
Maduro, accused by Washington of colluding with cartels, has reportedly turned to Vladimir Putin for weapons and defensive systems, and even appealed to China and Iran for backup.
Trump last month declared the United States to be in a “non-international armed conflict” with Venezuelan-linked terrorist organizations, granting him sweeping wartime powers to strike and detain targets without trial.
Since then, precision drone attacks have destroyed multiple vessels near Venezuelan waters, killing more than 60 suspected traffickers.
Trump boasted last week that maritime drug shipments were now “five percent of what they were a year ago,” warning that traffickers have “moved to land — and that’s going to be next.”
